Congenital esophageal stenosis (CES) is a rare anomaly, resulting from incomplete separation of the respiratory tract from the primitive foregut at the 25th day of life. First clinical signs are abnormalities of the swallowing mechanism caused by the intrinsic narrowing of the esophagus. Diagnosis is usually delayed, requiring an accurate history and high level of suspicion, alongside with an e...

OBJECTIVE To report a case of a 9-year-old female presented with esophageal achalasia and approached with surgery. The authors discuss the treatment and make a literature review on the topic. DESCRIPTION Childhood esophageal achalasia is an unusual disease, often with unknown etiology. The main symptoms are esophageal vomits, dysphagia and weight loss. The diagnosis can be made by esophagogra...

Zenker diverticulum is known as an adult disease which occurs as result of outpouching of pharyngeal mucosa through a weak zone in the posterior wall of the pharynx. It is a very rare disorder in childhood, and only a few pediatric cases of Zenker diverticulum have been reported. Here, we report a 10-year-old boy with Zenker diverticulum who presented with aspiration pneumonia, dysphagia, regur...

A 42-year-old male presented with worsening gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms and cough. The clinical symptoms during the early course of illness were striking for aspiration pneumonia. He was given a prescription of proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics. Rapid decline in the clinical condition with worsening respiratory status was noted. Worsening symptoms of fever, cough, and chest pa...

A 15-year-old girl was referred with a 2-year history of perennial non-productive cough, which had been preceded by Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia and subsequent asthma. Symptoms were only partially responsive to anti-asthma treatment including an inhaled corticosteroid and a leukotriene receptor antagonist. The patient's BMI was 27.8; she had gained over 10 kg in the previous two years. Typic...

A patient with past history of esophageal stenosis complained of sudden dysphagia in the erect position which was relieved transiently in the supine position. Initial esophagoscopy failed to detect any mass in the lumen. Esophagogram revealed shifting foreign body from lower stenotic site to upper dilated area with postural change from the erect to the supine position. A French bean was detecte...

BACKGROUND We determined the feasibility of, and tissue response to silicone-covered biodegradable magnesium- and plastic-stent insertion into the esophagus in rabbits. METHODS The mechanical compression-recovery characteristics and degradation behaviors of the magnesium stent were investigated in vitro. A total of 45 rabbits were randomly divided into a magnesium- (n = 15) and a plastic- (n ...

OBJECTIVE Spontaneous mediastinal emphysema is uncommon. Its cause has not been determined precisely, but the entity is usually associated with suddenly raised alveolar pressure. METHODS Between 1980 and 2001, 114 patients with mediastinal emphysema of various causes were hospitalized in the Wolfson Medical Center. In 22 of these patients (19.3%) the emphysema occurred without an obvious prec...

BACKGROUND Anastomotic stricture is an important problem after esophageal atresia (EA) repair. This study evaluates a technique of oblique esophageal anastomosis without use of a flap in order to prevent stricture formation. METHODS Medical records of 16 patients (14 with EA type III and 2 with EA type IV Ladd-Gross classification) who underwent primary repair of EA at birth without anastomot...

We report a very rare case of surgery on gastric conduit cancer. A 67-year-old male patient underwent esophagectomy and intrathoracic esophagogastrostomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the lower thoracic esophagus 27 months ago. Upon follow-up, a gastric carcinoma at the intra-abdominal part of the gastric conduit was found on an esophagogastroduodenoscopy. We performed total gastrectomy and es...