INTRODUCTION Esophageal perforation is a rare disease, which can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Its clinical presentation can mimic other disease processes and, therefore, it can be easily misdiagnosed. Candida infection of the esophagus is an extremely rare cause of esophageal perforation. CASE PRESENTATION We report the youngest pediatric case in the medical literature of spon...

We report on a previously undocumented complication of a trocar-free thoracostomy tube--delayed perforation of a normal esophagus. The complication presented clinically with fever and copious enteric drainage four days after thoracostomy tube insertion. Diagnosis was established by a contrast study of the esophagus. Retrospectively, the postinsertion chest radiograph showed the offending thorac...

Contraindications to transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) include various esophageal pathologies, but compression of the esophagus by vertebral osteophytes is not listed in the current American Society of Echocardiography guidelines. We report a case of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in an 81-year-old man who had incidentally been found to have extrinsic esophageal compressio...

Traumatic perforation of the cervical esophagus due to blunt trauma is a very rare condition which continues to be associated with significant mortality rates. The symptoms and signs of this injury are often masked by or ascribed to more common blunt thoracic injuries. This paper presents a case of cervical esophageal perforation secondary to blunt trauma resulting from a car accident. The inju...

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a commonly used procedure in patients with suspected endocarditis. A rare but dreadful complication of this procedure is perforation of the esophagus. We report the case of an elderly female with multiple comorbidities, who presented with polyarticular septic arthritis. TEE was performed to rule out endocarditis. Though the standard procedure protocol w...

To the anesthesia practitioner, the esophagus is the source of one of the most feared complications of anesthesia-gastric aspiration. However, this muscular conduit is also one of the anesthetist's most useful monitors of heartbeat, respirations and temperature via specialized probes. The esophagus is often taken for granted until a pathological process compromises its function. Esophageal perf...