Acute pharyngoesophageal dysphagia secondary to spontaneous hemorrhage of a parathyroid adenoma.

Spontaneous hemorrhage of a parathyroid adenoma is a rare occurrence which may manifest with a variety of symptoms including cervical pain, hoarseness, respiratory distress, and dysphagia. We report a case of an elderly woman with a parathyroid adenoma diagnosed 10 years ago and for which she had refused surgery. Throughout this period her hypercalcemia was carefully monitored, and she experienced no symptoms or adverse sequelae from her disease. However, the patient subsequently presented with a 1 day history of a sore throat and a nonproductive cough followed by the acute onset of dysphagia. At this time she was found to have an anterior neck hematoma extending to the midthorax. Computerized tomography and direct laryngoscopy were suggestive of the diagnosis and neck exploration confirmed the presence of a large hematoma beginning at the site of the 3 x 4 cm parathyroid adenoma and extending into the left strap musculature. We report this case of spontaneous hemorrhage of a cervical parathyroid adenoma to bring to mind a rare etiology of acute pharyngoesophageal dysphagia.