Man-Kyu Park, Dae-Chul Cho, Woo-Seok Bang, Kyoung-Tae Kim, Joo-Kyung Sung


March 2018, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 515 - 519 Case Report Read Full Article 10.1007/s00586-018-5540-1

First Online: 02 March 2018

Purpose

Delayed esophageal perforation after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is an extremely rare cause of infection such as spondylodiscitis. We present a rare case in which a patient had two delayed esophageal perforations occurring 20 and 25 years after ACDF. By sharing our experience of this rare case, we hope to provide new information related to delayed esophageal perforation.

Methods

We present the case of a 72-year-old patient who underwent ACDF due to cervical spondylosis 25 years ago. Delayed esophageal perforation occurred 20 years postoperatively and healed spontaneously with conservative treatment.

Results

Five years later, a second esophageal perforation occurred, which required surgical intervention and involved recurrent infection.

Conclusions

We suggest that it is important to consider follow-up in patients with spontaneously healed esophageal perforations. Furthermore, any patient with symptoms subsequent to a spontaneously healed esophageal perforation, even after an interval of several years, should receive a thorough evaluation for possible recurrent esophageal perforation.


Read Full Article