Summary: | Background: Although chronic foreign bodies in the esophagus are rare, they often come with significant life-threatening complications. Duration of the impactions with the shape and size of the foreign body is considered as the main factor associated with complications, and early diagnosis and removal of impacted foreign body is therefore of great importance.
Discussion: Thirty four (34) year old patient with a two-month history of dysphagia and severe weight loss is treated on suspicion of chronic impacted denture in the esophagus. Lateral neck x-ray was negative, but because of the high degree of suspicion, MSCT scan was done, which showed an impacted foreign body. Despite the long-term impaction of the voluminous partly sharp impacted foreign body in the esophagus, there were not developed expected sometimes even fatal complications.
Conclusion: Patients with a long history and a high degree of suspicion of a foreign body in the esophagus with no signs of life-threatening complications and even with negative findings of the lateral x-ray of the neck must be immediately subjected to diagnostic procedures to prove possible impacted foreign body and instant removal if the same is confirmed. The endoscopic procedure is the treatment of choice and is usually successful. Neck exploration is safe and effective when endoscopic surgery is not successful.
|