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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 2009; 01(03): 101-106
DOI: 10.4103/1947-489X.211057
Case Report

Vocal cord palsy: A very rare complication of radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism

Salem Beshyah
1   Diabetes and Endocrine Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, UK
,
Hosam Al-Fallouji
2   Department of Otorhinolaringology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, UK
,
Farhad Neave
3   Nuclear Medicine Department, North Middlesex Hospital, London, UK
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Laryngeal palsy occurs extremely rarely after radioiodine therapy for Graves' disease. We describe a case of complete right laryngeal paralysis in a 73 year old man who received two conventional doses of radioiodine (15 mCi) 9 months apart. He presented one day after the radioiodine therapy with loss of voice, discomfort in the right side of his neck, dry cough and throat irritation. The pain disappeared in a couple of weeks but the dysphonia persisted. Direct laryngoscopy confirmed complete right vocal cord paralysis and imaging excluded other regional pathology. His voice improved progressively to full recovery by six months though the vocal paralysis persisted even at 12 months of follow up. The case reminds physicians that radioiodine therapy for Graves' disease may rarely cause complications that need timely recognition and treatment.

Key-words:

Thyroid gland - Hyperthyroidism - Thyroiditis - Laryngeal Paralysis - Radioiodine.


Publication History

Received: 10 September 2009

Accepted: 19 October 2009

Article published online:
23 May 2022

© 2009. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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