Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation-assisted resection of goiter causing severe extrinsic airway compression.

We report a case of a 51-year-old woman with a huge multi-nodular thyroid goiter extending down into the superior mediastinum and causing severe extrinsic airway compression. Also due to the reason of severe rheumatoid arthritis, her mouth could not open widely. Because the endotracheal intubation was unsuccessful, we performed a subtotal thyroidectomy with the institution of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.