Thoracic esophageal injury due to a neck stab wound: a case report

Surgical Case Reports

Fumi Hasegawa¹  Koji Ito¹  Masaki Honda¹  Kyoko Ryu¹  Satoshi Matsui¹  Kenta Yagi¹  Hiromasa Hoshi¹  Noriaki Takiguchi¹  Kaida Arita¹  Toshiro Tanioka¹  Yuko Kamata¹  Yoshiteru Ohata¹  Kodai Ueno¹  Akio Kaito¹  Shigeo Haruki² 

[1] Department of Digestive Surgery, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital, 4-1-1 Otuno, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki, Japan;Department of Esophageal Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, 3-18-22 Hokomagome, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan;

关键词: Esophageal injury;    Esophageal perforation;    Thoracic esophagus;    Neck trauma;    Penetrating;    Stab wound;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40792-021-01208-5

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTraumatic esophageal injury leads to severe complications such as mediastinitis, pyothorax, and tracheoesophageal fistula. Although prompt diagnosis and treatment are required, there are no established protocols to guide diagnosis or treatment. In particular, thoracic esophageal injury tends to be diagnosed later than cervical esophageal injury because it has few specific symptoms. We report a case of thoracic esophageal injury caused by a cervical stab wound; the patient was stabbed with a sharp blade.Case presentationA 74-year-old woman was attacked with a knife while sleeping at home. The patient was taken to the emergency room with an injury localized to the left section of her neck. She was suspected of a left jugular vein and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury from cervical hematoma and hoarseness. On the day following the injury, computed tomography revealed a thoracic esophageal injury. Emergency surgery was performed for an esophageal perforation and mediastinal abscesses. Although delayed diagnosis resulted in suture failure, the patient was able to resume oral intake of food a month later following enteral feeding with a gastrostomy. Esophageal injuries due to sharp trauma are rare, and most are cervical esophageal injuries. There are very few reports on thoracic esophageal injuries.ConclusionsThe possibility of thoracic esophageal injury should always be considered when dealing with neck stab wounds, particularly those caused by an attack.

【 授权许可】

CC BY