Migration and Erosion of Cervical Spine Hardware into the Esophageal Lumen Causing Odynophagia and Dysphagia

A 41-year-old man with a history of metastatic medullary thyroid cancer presented with stridor, odynophagia, and dysphagia, worsening abruptly over the past 2 days. He had a moderate degree of dysphagia even at baseline secondary to a radiation-induced esophageal stricture, and previously had multiple esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGDs) with dilation, most recently a year prior to presentation. He had also undergone a complete thyroidectomy and received radioactive iodine and radiation therapy. His clinical course had been complicated by cervical and thoracic cord compression from bone metastases requiring corpectomy, laminectomy, and instrumented vertebral fusion.