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World Journal of Surgery and Surgical Research
2021 | Volume 4 | Article 1279 1
Eye Sign and Syndrome after Thyroidectomy
OPEN ACCESS
*Correspondence:
Mayilvaganan Sabaretnam, Department
of Endocrine Surgery, Sanjay Gandhi
Postgraduate Institute of Medical
Sciences, Raebareily Road, Lucknow
- 226 014, India, Tel: +91 (0522)
2668004- 8 (Ext 3200), 2668777; Fax:
+91 (0522) 2668777;
E-mail: drretnam@gmail.com
Received Date: 23 Dec 2020
Accepted Date: 25 Jan 2021
Published Date: 03 Feb 2021
Citation:
Sabaretnam M, Idrees S, VNSSVAMS
Mahalakshmi D, Bhargav PRK,
Chekavar A, Manogaran R. Eye Sign
and Syndrome after Thyroidectomy.
World J Surg Surgical Res. 2021; 4:
1279.
Copyright © 2021 Mayilvaganan
Sabaretnam. This is an open access
article distributed under the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly
cited.
Case Report
Published: 03 Feb, 2021
Abst ract
Tyroidectomy is not associated in majority with complications and rarely associated with
complications like Horner syndrome which has signifcant impact on quality of life. We report a
case of papillary carcinoma thyroid that had completion thyroidectomy with central compartment
lymph node dissection and developed ptosis, miosis, enophthalmos on post-operative day 1 without
anhidrosis. Possible cause in this case could be trauma from retraction or injury to communicating
branch from RLN as it was a re-operative case. So with complete knowledge of surgical anatomy and
careful dissection, this complication can be avoided.
Mayilvaganan Sabaretnam
1
*, Sarrah Idrees
1
, VNSSVAMS Mahalakshmi D
1
, PRK Bhargav
1
,
Aromal Chekavar
1
and Ravisankar Manogaran
2
1
Department of Endocrine Surgery, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, India
2
Department of Neuro-otology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, India
Introduction
Tyroidectomy is commonly performed procedure across the world. It is associated with
certain well established morbidities like RLN palsy and hypoparathyroidism, but there are certain
preventable complications which are rare but have signifcant impact on quality of life, Horner
syndrome is one of these. It is characterized by miosis, eyelid ptosis, enophthalmos, and lack of
sweating, with vascular dilatation of the lateral part of the face, caused by damage of the cervical
sympathetic chain [1]. Mid ganglion is injury is the commonest site of damage as it is in close
proximity with inferior thyroid artery. Capsular dissection and careful dissection can avert this
complication.
Case Presentation
We report Horner syndrome in a 22 years young lady who underwent completion thyroidectomy
along with central compartment lymph node dissection for papillary carcinoma thyroid. She
underwent right hemithyroidectomy for right thyroid nodule with pre-operative benign cytology.
Patient has an uneventful recovery and fnal histology showed a 1.5 cm focus of papillary carcinoma
thyroid in isthmic region. In view of this, patient was planned for completion surgery afer six weeks.
In completion thyroidectomy, there were dense adhesions in the central compartment and multiple
black cyst nodes were noticed on the index side. Bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerves and superior
parathyroids were identifed and preserved and both inferior parathyroids were auto-transplanted
in to sternocleidomastoid muscle. Patient developed right eye ptosis, miosis and enophthalmos
on 1
st
post-operative day without any evidence anhidrosis. Neurological and Ophthalmological
examination also ruled out any other cause of Horner syndrome. Patient did not have hoarseness of
voice and symptomatic hypocalcemia in post-operative period.
Discussion
Horner syndrome is rare complication afer thyroidectomy with only few cases reported so
far in literature. Horner syndrome occurs due to disruption of sympathetic innervations to ocular
muscles. Te occulosympathetic system can be regarded as a three neuron pathway. Te frst
order neurons of the sympathetic pathway originate in the central nervous system arising in the
posterolateral hypothalamus to synapse in the thoracic segment of the spinal cord. Te second order
neurons from the spinal cord enter the sympathetic chain ascending through the inferior and middle
cervical ganglion, synapse in the superior cervical ganglion at the level of the carotid bifurcation
and the third-order neurons emerge from the superior cervical ganglion and innervate Mueller's
muscle of the upper and lower lids and the lacrimal gland as well as the dilator muscle of the iris [1].
Horner syndrome can occur due to disruption of innervations at any level. Tyroid pathology both
benign and malignant is the most common cause of a neck mass associated with Horner syndrome
accounts for nearly 1.3% out of all case with sympathetic chain compromise is usually caused by
mass pressure efects rather than malignant infltration [2]. In post-operative period the possible