Lingual Thyroid: Two Cases in Siblings Diagnosed and Treated with Radioactive Iodine

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on lingual thyroid and to report the occurrence of lingual thyroid in two brothers in whom radioactive iodine was used for diagnosis and treatment. <h3>HISTORICAL DATA</h3> So far as can be determined the first case of lingual thyroid was described by the English author, Hickman,¹who in 1869 reported the death by suffocation of a newborn infant. Autopsy revealed a large thyroid tumor at the base of the tongue. In 1865, Hunt,²an American, described a tumor at the base of the tongue in a young woman, and, while he did not recognize this to be a lingual thyroid, the subsequent course of events suggests that he was dealing with such a case. As Hunt described it, the tumor was found in a girl aged 16, situated on the posterior part of the tongue immediately in front of