Case of thyroid hemiagenesis and ectopic lingual thyroid presenting as goitre.

OBJECTIVE

We report an extremely rare case of thyroid hemiagenesis with ectopic lingual thyroid.

METHOD: Case report and review of the world literature concerning thyroid hemiagenesis with ectopic lingual thyroid and heredity.

RESULTS

Ectopic thyroid is an uncommon embryological aberration characterised by the presence of thyroid tissue in a site other than its usual, pretracheal location. The lingual thyroid is the most common manifestation of benign ectopic thyroid tissue, but is still a rare clinical entity. Thyroid hemiagenesis is also a very rare abnormality, in which one thyroid lobe fails to develop. We report a case of left thyroid hemiagenesis and goitre in the right lobe in a 26-year-old woman with an ectopic lingual thyroid.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first report in the world literature of thyroid hemiagenesis with ectopic lingual thyroid.