Medical management of iatrogenic esophageal perforations

Pharyngeal perforation following laryngoscopy in a patient with dysphagia secondary to diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis: A case report

RATIONALE

Dysphagia is a common presenting symptom in elderly people. Nevertheless, dysphagia resulting from diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) of patients' cervical spine may be due to several factors. Despite computed tomography scan showing the size and shape of osteophytes, endoscopy may be necessary to exclude other intrinsic causes of dysphagia. Due to the anatomic variation of the pharynx secondary to DISH, patients undergoing endoscopy are at risk of perforation. Once perforation occurs, inappropriate treatments may finally lead to an irretrievable outcome.

PATIENT CONCERNS

A 58-year-old male patient with a 20-day history of dysphagia initially visited an ear-nose-throat (ENT) doctor. He had no neck pain and no other history of cervical disease.

DIAGNOSIS

This patient with dysphagia due to DISH of the cervical spine underwent laryngoscopy to exclude other causes. Pharyngeal perforation resulted as a complication of the procedure.

INTERVENTIONS

The patient underwent laryngoscopy and biopsy by an ENT doctor to exclude intrinsic causes. After the procedure, a perforation was formed on the posterior wall of the pharynx. Conservative management, that is, 1 week of nothing per oral, and 1 month of antibiotics, was adopted. On the 30th day after the examination, the patient was voluntarily discharged from the hospital and recommended to take antibiotics orally.

OUTCOMES

On the 56th day, the patient experienced fever and neck pain. Magnetic resonance imaging showed that the cervical vertebral bodies and spinal cord were infected. On the midday of the 60th day, the patient had a failed resuscitation and died.

LESSONS

DISH involving the cervical spine is a complicated cause of dysphagia. Due to the anatomic variation of the pharynx secondary to DISH, patients undergoing endoscopy are at risk of perforation. If other intrinsic causes of dysphagia have to be excluded with the aid of endoscopy, plain films and computed tomography images should be read carefully first. To minimize the risk of perforation, it is necessary to perform endoscopy extremely carefully, especially biopsy. Once perforation occurs, operative treatment may be more appropriate and effective.

Severe esophageal injury after radiofrequency ablation - a deadly complication

Various degrees of esophageal injury have been described after radiofrequency ablation performed for treatment of atrial fibrillation. The main mechanism of injury is thermal and may lead to a range of esophageal mucosal changes, some clinically insignificant, however when deep ulceration occurs, this may be further complicated by perforation and mediastinitis, a rare but life threatening sequelae. We present a case of a severe esophageal injury leading to mediastinitis, with interesting endoscopic findings.

Complications in pediatric endoscopy

The experience of the "endoscopic community" in pediatric patients is limited, but during recent years increased skills of the endoscopists and technological improvements lead to a standardization of pediatric endoscopy and the development of specialized pediatric endoscopy unit. Adverse events related to diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy in children are usually rare. Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of complications in pediatric endoscopy is crucial when dealing with benign diseases in children. The complication rate of diagnostic EGD and colonoscopy in children are extremely low. Therapeutic procedures have obviously an increased rate of adverse events. Esophageal dilations are the most common indication for endoscopic therapy in children and can lead to perforations which requires prompt diagnosis and management. Complications of ERCP in pediatric age are similar to those reported in adults. The experience in pediatric emergency endoscopy (mainly foreign body removal) is consolidated and related adverse events extremely rare. Sedation of children during endoscopy maybe needs further evaluation and standardization, to reduce the rate of specific complications.

Nasogastric Tube Placement and Esophageal Perforation in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

Perforation of the esophagus associated with placement of nasogastric tubes is not uncommon in preterm infants. Herein we report three cases of iatrogenic esophageal perforation associated with nasogastric tube placement. With nonsurgical management of parenteral nutrition and broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy, all three neonates survived without sequelae. Effective strategies to prevent such complications are discussed.

Esophageal perforation post pneumatic dilatation for achalasia managed by esophageal stenting

Patient: Female, 82

Final Diagnosis: Achalasia

Symptoms: Nocturnal regurgtation • weight loss

Medication: —

Clinical Procedure: Esophageal stenting

Specialty: Gastroenterology • Hepatology

Objective: Unusual or unexpected effect of treatment

Evaluation of recovery in iatrogenic evoked acute mediatinitis

This study attempts to find a prediction method of death risk in patients with acute mediastinitis (AM). There is no such tool described in available literature for this serious disease. The study comprised 37 consecutive cases of iatrogenic AM. General anamnesis and biochemical data were included. Factor analysis was used to extract the risk characteristic for the patients. The most valuable results were obtained for eight parameters, which were selected for further statistical analysis (all collected during a few hours after admission). Three factors reached eigenvalue > 1. Clinical explanations for these combined statistical factors are as follows: Factor 1--proteinic status (serum total protein, albumin, and hemoglobin level), Factor 2--inflammatory status (white blood cells, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin), and Factor 3--general risk (age and number of coexisting diseases). Threshold values of prediction factors were estimated using statistical analysis (factor analysis, Statgraphics Centurion XVI). The final prediction result for the patients is constructed as simultaneous evaluation of all factor scores. High probability of death should be predicted if factor 1 value decreases with simultaneous increase of factors 2 and 3. The diagnostic power of the proposed method was revealed to be high [sensitivity = 100 %, specificity = 69.2 %]: Factor 1 [SNC = 95.8 %, SPC = 76.9 %]; Factor 2 [SNC = 100 %, SPC = 53.8 %]; and Factor 3 [SNC = 75 %, SPC = 76.9 %]. The described method may turn out to be a valuable prognostic tool for patients with AM.

Endoscopic muscularis dissection for upper gastrointestinal subepithelial tumors originating from the muscularis propria

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Based on our experience with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and new endoscopic techniques for endoscopic closure of iatrogenic upper gastrointestinal (upper-GI) perforations, we developed methods to remove upper-GI subepithelial tumors (SETs) originating from the muscularis propria by endoscopic muscularis dissection (EMD). The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical feasibility and safety of EMD.

METHODS

31 patients with upper-GI SETs originating from the muscularis propria were treated by EMD. The EMD differed from ESD in (1) precutting the overlying mucosa above the lesion by using snare or longitudinal incision instead of circumferential incision, (2) dissecting the complete tumors away from submucosal and muscularis propria tissue by electrical dissection combined with blunt dissection, and (3) closing the wound with clips. Perforations occurring during dissection were closed by endoscopic methods.

RESULTS

30 of 31 tumors were resected completely (96.8 %). One esophageal lesion was resected partially because of severe adhesions with surrounding tissue. Mean resected tumor size was 22.1 mm × 15.5 mm, and mean operation time was 76.8 min (range 15-330 min). Histological diagnosis was gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in 16 lesions [6 esophageal, 3 cardial, 7 gastric; 6 very low risk and 10 low risk according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) risk classification] and leiomyoma in 15 lesions (8 esophageal, 4 cardial, 3 gastric). No patient developed delayed hemorrhage. Perforation occurred in four patients (12.9 %), all of which were managed successfully by endoscopic techniques. The mean follow-up time was 17.7 months (range 7-35 months). Follow-up found no tumor recurrence in any patient.

CONCLUSIONS

In this early experience, EMD appears to be a feasible and minimally invasive treatment for some patients with upper-GI SETs originating from the muscularis propria. Although there is a higher risk of perforation than with ESD, this will improve with extended practice, and perforations have become manageable endoscopically.