TY - JOUR
T1 - Lymphoedema of the upper limb
T2 - A rare complication of thyroid surgery?
AU - Stephen, Christopher
AU - Munnoch, David Alexander
PY - 2016/4/18
Y1 - 2016/4/18
N2 - A 40-year-old woman underwent an elective thyroidectomy for a non-toxic, multinodular goitre. In the early postoperative period, the patient developed a significant unilateral swelling of the right upper limb, which was subsequently confirmed to be lymphoedema. This was eventually treated successfully using liposuction and compression garment therapies. We report the case due to its rarity and present a possible explanation for such an unexpected complication based on known anatomical variations of lymphatic drainage of the upper limb.
AB - A 40-year-old woman underwent an elective thyroidectomy for a non-toxic, multinodular goitre. In the early postoperative period, the patient developed a significant unilateral swelling of the right upper limb, which was subsequently confirmed to be lymphoedema. This was eventually treated successfully using liposuction and compression garment therapies. We report the case due to its rarity and present a possible explanation for such an unexpected complication based on known anatomical variations of lymphatic drainage of the upper limb.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964800454&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bcr-2016-214376
DO - 10.1136/bcr-2016-214376
M3 - Article
C2 - 27090542
AN - SCOPUS:84964800454
SN - 1757-790X
VL - 2016
SP - 1
EP - 3
JO - BMJ Case Reports
JF - BMJ Case Reports
M1 - 214376
ER -