Thyroid Abscess in Child: About a Case

Introduction: Thyroid abscess is a rare disease entity. This is an unusual situation due to the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the gland which gives it a capacity to resist infections. And it is even rarer in children .

Goal: Report the medical observation of a pediatric case of thyroid abscess while analyzing the clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and evolutionary data.

Observation: We have reported the case of a child aged 4 years admitted to the pediatric the emergency department for the appearance of a left cervical mass, the clinical examination finds a painful swelling on palpation, inflammatory mobile on swallowing, evolving for 5
days associated with left cervical lymphadenopathy and a fever.

The initial laboratory assessment objected to an infectious syndrome made of CRP at 96 with hyperleukocytosis at 15280, a cervical CT requested confirmed a collection of the left lobe of the thyroid measuring 47 / 27 mm. A thyroid workup requested was normal (TSH = 1.63 T4 = 19.6). The therapeutic attitude consisted of the administration of probabilistic antibiotic therapy while combining amoxicillin clavulanic acid for 10 days including 5 days intavenousely.

The clinical, biological and radiological outcome was favorable. The etiological investigation made of: immunological assessment, tuberculosis assessment and radiological explorations of congenital thyroid malformations, came back negative .

Conclusion: Thyroid abscess is certainly a rare pathology in children, and radiological explorations have played an essential role in the positive diagnosis of this pathological entity. But more medical research is needed, especially since the results of the etiological investigation remain limited in the subject of pediatric thyroid abscess.