Published online Feb 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i6.1961
Peer-review started: August 15, 2021
First decision: November 6, 2021
Revised: November 16, 2021
Accepted: January 13, 2022
Article in press: January 13, 2022
Published online: February 26, 2022
Processing time: 192 Days and 7.8 Hours
Esophageal foreign body (FB) is a common clinical emergency. Clinically, computed tomography (CT) scans are important in the diagnosis of FBs in the esophagus. Here, we report a case of esophageal perforation and cervical hematoma, caused by a FB, whose uniqueness made rapid diagnosis difficult.
A 42-year-old man was transferred to our hospital with esophageal perforation, which was accompanied by cervical and mediastinal hematoma. CT scans only revealed a black shadow, approximately 2.5 cm in diameter, in the upper esophagus. After multidisciplinary discussion, he was quickly subjected to mediastinal hematoma resection, peripheral nerve compression release, esophageal FB removal and esophagectomy. Eventually, we removed a small crab with a pointed tip from his esophagus.
This was an unusual case of occurrence of sharp polygonal esophageal FBs caused by a small crab. Rapid diagnosis of this FB was difficult, mainly due to its translucent nature. Occurrence of sharp FBs, with cavities that sometimes only appear as black shadows on CT scans, can easily be mistaken for esophageal lumens. More attention should be paid to such sharp polygonal FBs.
Core Tip: Esophageal foreign body (FB) is a common clinical emergency, a man suffered a sharp polygonal FB caused by the small crab. The FB in this patient was more difficult to detect on computed tomography because of its translucent nature, which increased the difficulty of rapid diagnosis. This case is rare and We should pay more attention at the sharp polygonal foreign body.