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Rheumatoid nodules of the larynx

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Waldemar Trolle Sørensen*
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Glostrup Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Kim Møller-Andersen
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Glostrup Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Nille Behrendt
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Glostrup Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
*
Address for correspondence: Waldemar Trolle Sørensen M.D. Frugthegnet 46, 2830 Virum, Denmark.

Abstract

A 67-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis was hospitalized because of dysphagia and severe nodulosis. Over a two-year period the patient had been treated with methotrexate. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the neck showed a 2 × 2 cm large tumour behind the top left lateral thyroid cartilage. A biopsy taken during direct laryngoscopy showed it was a rheumatic nodule. Treatment with colchicine reduced the patient's dysphagia. As methotrexate is used increasingly in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and as this particular drug causes rheumatic nodules in five to 10 per cent of the patients, it must be foreseen that the incidence of nodules in the upper airways will increase.

Type
Clinical Records
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1998

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