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Case report
Vallecular cyst: a dangerous cause of failure to thrive in infants
  1. Pei-Shan Lee1,
  2. Annie Larrow1,2,
  3. Laurie Bernard Stover1,2 and
  4. Michael Gardiner1,3
  1. 1Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
  2. 2Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
  3. 3Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Pei-Shan Lee; pel066{at}health.ucsd.edu

Abstract

A 2-month-old full-term female infant with medical history of situs inversus totalis presented to the emergency department with congestion and abnormal breathing. She was discovered to have failure to thrive (FTT) and subsequently admitted. Investigations revealed a large vallecular mass at the base of her tongue which was noted to cause severe, intermittent airway obstruction. The mass underwent marsupialisation by otolaryngology (ENT) and pathology confirmed a diagnosis of vallecular cyst. The patient made a full recovery and is now growing and thriving. This case emphasises the need to consider anatomic airway abnormalities in the differential diagnosis of young infants with the constellation of respiratory symptoms and FTT. Such airway abnormalities can cause life-threatening airway obstruction if not discovered.

  • infant health
  • failure to thrive

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2020-237216

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors PS-L contributed to conception and design, acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, drafted manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy. AL contributed to conception and design, acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, critically revised manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy. LBS and MG contributed to conception, acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, critically revised manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Parental/guardian consent obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.