Co-occurrence of papillary thyroid cancer and MALT lymphoma of the thyroid with severe airway obstruction: A case report and review of the literature

INTRODUCTION: Co-occurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma resulting in severe airway obstruction is very rare. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 58-year-old woman visited our department because of enlargement of a neck mass. Computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonography showed 2 discrete hypoechoic nodules. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy revealed thyroid lymphoma in the left lobe and PTC in the right lobe. After 1 week, she returned to the emergency room at our hospital with shortness of breath and difficultly in swallowing. CT revealed enlargement of the left lobe, which was severely compressing the trachea. We performed emergency total thyroidectomy with lymphadenectomy. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged without any symptoms. DISCUSSION: The most common treatment for PTC is surgery; however, the treatment for thyroid lymphoma remains controversial. We propose that surgery be performed in the cases of symptoms such as shortness of breath and difficulty in swallowing. CONCLUSION: We performed emergency total thyroidectomy to relieve obstruction of the trachea and to remove the two malignant tumors. We suggest total thyroidectomy for a case of co-occurrence of two malignant tumors, causing severe airway obstruction.