Throat Flashcards
What are the red flags for malignancy
- Persistent sore throat
- Hoarseness
- Dysphagia
- Odynophagia
- Weight loss
- Fevers
- Night sweats
What are the first line investigaions for a neck lump?
- CT
- Fine needle aspiration cytology
- USS
What is a thyroglossal duct cyst?
Congenital neck lump
- Mobile, non-tender, soft, fluctuant
- Moves up and down with movement of tongue
What can cause lymphadenopathy?
- Bacterial (streptococcus, staphylococcus)
- Viral (EBV, cytomegalovirus)
- Fungal
- TB
- Toxoplasmosis
What is a lipoma?
Soft, painless, mobile, do not cause skin changes
What is a carotid body tumour?
- Lump in posterior triangle of neck, painless, pulsatile, bruit, mobile side-to-side but not up and down
- Can put pressure on vagus nerve and cause Horner syndrome (ptosis, miosis and anhidrosis)
When do you do a 2WW referral?
- Unexplained neck lump =>45yrs
* Persistent unexplained neck lump at any age
When do you do an urgent USS for a growing lump?
- 2 weeks =>25yrs
* Within 48hrs <25yrs
What are the risk factors for SCC?
- Betel nut chewing
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- HPV (20-40s)
- EBV
What are the red flags for SCC?
- Lump in mouth or on lip
- Unexplained ulceration in mouth >3 weeks
- Erythroplakia or erythroleukoplakia
- Persistent neck lump
- Unexplained hoarseness of voice
- Unexplained thyroid lump
What is Reinke’s oedema and the management?
Vocal folds become oedematous with accumulation of gelatinous material within the vocal fold
Common in females and smokers
Management: smoking cessation, GORD treatment
What are the causes of benign thyroid masses?
- Follicular adenoma
- Hyperplastic nodules
- Thyroid cysts
What are the causes of malignant thyroid masses?
- Papillary carcinoma
- Follicular carcinoma
- Medullary carcinoma
- Anaplastic carcinoma
What are the signs of thyroid malignancy?
- Enlarged cervical lymph nodes
- Rapidly enlarging painless thyroid mass
- Unexplained hoarseness
- Stridor
- Thyroid disease in children
