Background: Hypothyroidism, one of the prevalent endocrine disorders worldwide, has a broad spectrum of\nclinical manifestations, from an asymptomatic condition to myxedema coma. Although the majority of patients\nwith hypothyroidism have minor clinical symptoms, which are recovered with levothyroxine treatment, some\npatients occasionally do experience fatal complications. Here we report, for the first time, the case of a patient who\nhad hypothyroidism with simultaneous occurrence of rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney injury, moderate pericardial\neffusion, and sudden sensorineural hearing loss.\nCase presentation: A 57-year-old man with a previous history of dyslipidemia and untreated hypothyroidism was\nadmitted to the hospital due to shortness of breath, lethargy, lower extremity discomfort, and unilateral hearing\nloss. Laboratory results revealed rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney injury and severe hypothyroidism. We detected\ncardiomegaly without lung parenchymal infiltration on chest radiography and moderate pericardial effusion on\ntransthoracic echocardiography. We performed pure tone audiometry and identified profound unilateral\nsensorineural hearing loss. Aggressive fluid resuscitation, levothyroxine treatment, and systemic and intratympanic\nsteroid therapy alleviated the patientâ??s severe hypothyroidism, rhabdomyolysis, and pericardial effusion; however,\nsensorineural hearing loss was not fully recovered.\nConclusions: Early recognition of life-threatening complications is important in patients with severe\nhypothyroidism to prevent adverse outcomes. This case suggests that hypothyroidism should be considered in\npatients who have rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney disease and pericardial effusion. Moreover, sudden\nsensorineural hearing loss should be kept in mind as a rare complication of hypothyroidism.
Loading....