• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-60
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• 1972

Esopkageal rupture is one of the rarest disease. Mackler described that esophageal rupture was differentiated from esophageal perforation, the perforation is produced by esophagoscopy, and continuous erosion, such as esophagitis,gastric reflux, hiatal hernia and malignant neoplasm of the esophagus, the rupture is occurred by severe vomiting, cough and strong positive pressure into the esophageal lumen. Since,at first Boerhaave reported the esophageal rupture due to severe vomiting in 1742, several case reports of esophageal rupture have been in the literatures. Authors reported a case of the esophageal rupture due to explosion of gasoline in 50 year old female. The rupture occurred a longitudinal rent on the left posterolateral aspect of lower one third of esophagus and accompanied wlth second degree burn on the entire face and neck. The treatment consists of immediate thoracotomy in order to drainage of pyothorax and gastrostomy for nutritional problem, but patient expired because of septicemia probably due to uncontrollable empyema of thorax on 45th admitted day.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.43-47
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• 1994

Prompt recognition and proper treatment of esophageal perforation or rupture may ax~ert death or minimize complications. We have experienced sixteen patients of esophageal perforation at the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Hallym Medical college during the period fromJan. 1986 to Sep. 1993. The ratio between male and female patient was 13:3 and their age ranged from 23 years to 67 years old. The major cause of esophageal perforations was spontaneous rupture in 7 cases[45%], surgical trauma in 2 cases[12%], instrumental trauma in 2 cases[12%], and others in 5 cases[31%]. The common site of esophageal perforation was in the lower third portion of the esophagus[10 cases, 62%]. The most consistent symptom of esophageal perforation was chest pain in 11 cases, temperature elevation within a few hours was 9 cases.Contrast roentgenographic studies demonstrated the perforation in all but 2 of the 16 patients. The frequent complications of esophageal perforation were empyema in 7 cases[45 %] and mediastinitis in 2 cases[12%]. fourteen patients had suture closure and drainage with 2 deaths, and 2 patient received only drainage procedures. The mortality rate was 12%[2 cases] and cause of death was sepsis and aortic rupture.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.169-174
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• 1988

Thoracic esophageal rupture caused by blunt trauma is often not recognized until late because of the vague symptoms in the initial state as well as its rare incidence, which can easily lead to fulminant mediastinitis with frequent fatal outcome. Once extensive mediastinitis occurs, the primary surgical repair of the esophageal tear is considered to be practically impossible. Various methods have been proposed for the management of these desperately ill patients, but no one provides an acceptable good result yet. The purpose of this article is to report the successful result obtained in the treatment of a patient with fulminant mediastinitis from traumatic esophageal rupture by continuous transesophageal irrigation. A 27 year-old male patient was brought to the emergency room of our hospital complaining of dyspnea and chest pain after blunt trauma. The diagnosis of esophageal rupture in the thorax was made late, about 46 hours after the initial injury, when mediastinitis had already progressed. The transesophageal irrigation method was immediately instituted which consisted of profuse transesophageal irrigation of the mediastinum with orally ingested fluid and/or by Levin tube, positioned proximal to the site of the rupture, and drainage of the irrigation fluid by thoracoscopically accurately positioned chest tubes connected to a well suctioning system. With subsiding inflammatory signs and symptoms, the esophagogram, obtained 54 days after the treatment, showed no evidence of the mediastinal leakage of contrast material which contrasted previous esophagograms with definitive dye collections in the mediastinum. Additional endoscopic finding confirmed complete healing of the esophageal mucosa, previously ruptured. He has been followed up without any problem until recently, 6 months after discharge.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.331-334
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• 1994

Pneumatic rupture is a rare cause of esophageal injury, as evidenced by only 19 cases reported in the literature. We experienced one case of esophageal rupture due to bursting of a truck inner tube. The patient, who was a 45-year old male, had severe chest pain, respiratory distress, flushing in the face and neck, and subcutaneous emphysema after tire explosion. Three days after the incident, a diagnosis of rupture of the thoracic esophagus was established by esophagogram using water soluble contrast media, and then emergency operation was done. The operation involved mediastinal and thoracic drainage and resection of the esophagus combined with cervical esophagostomy and feeding gastrostomy. On the 105th day after the operation, cervical esophagogastrostomy via substernal route was performed. The patient was successfully treated with the staged operations. As in the other reported cases, the injury was located in the lower one third of the esophagus. Four main characteristics of the clinical signs of pneumatic rupture are 1] wounds or burns to the face or mouth, 2] chest pain or epigastric pain, 3] subcutaneous emphysema, and 4] respiratory distress. We emphasize that the high index of suspicion of esophageal rupture is very important in diagnosis and that diagnosis should be based on the same findings common to other forms of esophageal injury.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.16-18
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• 2018

Delayed esophageal rupture due to blunt injury is not new. However, rupture due to suspected barotrauma is very rare. We describe a case of esophageal rupture in a male 24-year-old patient after diving in shallow waters. The patient was quadriplegic and could not experience the typical chest pain related to rupture and resulting mediastinitis. The rupture was discovered 4 days after emergency decompressive laminectomy and fusion for his cervical spine. The rupture was evidently caused by barotrauma and was discovered four days after admission. He underwent primary closure and pericardial flap as a life-saving procedure.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.507-509
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• 1993

Esophageal perforation, regardless of the etiology, is a catastrophic event. The importances of early diagnosis and an aggressive surgical approach in the management of such a potentially lethal situation are stressed, in fact the mortality rate is directly related to the interval between perforation and initiation of treatment. We experienced a rare case of esophageal rupture caused by compressed air which produce a rupture of the colon not infrequently, which was treated successfully by an aggressive surgical approach consisting of closure of the perforation and adequate drainage.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.550-553
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• 2017

Esophageal perforation is a rare but potentially fatal complication of robot-assisted thyroidectomy (RAT). Herein, we report the long-term outcome of an esophageal reconstruction with a jejunal free flap for esophageal rupture after RAT. A 33-year-old woman developed subcutaneous emphysema and hoarseness on postoperative day1 following RAT. Esophageal rupture was diagnosed by computed tomography and endoscopy, and immediate surgical exploration confirmed esophageal rupture, as well as recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. We performed a jejunal free flap repair of the 8-cm defect in the esophagus. End-to-side microvascular anastomoses were created between the right external carotid artery and the jejunal branches of the superior mesenteric artery, and end-to-end anastomosis was performed between the external jugular vein and the jejunal vein. The right recurrent laryngeal nerve injury was repaired with a 4-cm nerve graft from the right ansa cervicalis. Esophagography at 1 year after surgery confirmed that there were no leaks or structures, endoscopy at 1 year confirmed the resolution of vocal cord paralysis, and there were no residual problems with swallowing or speech at a 5-year follow-up examination. RAT requires experienced surgeons with a thorough knowledge of anatomy, as well as adequate resources to quickly and competently address potentially severe complications such as esophageal rupture.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.264-269
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• 2001

흉부 둔상에 의한 기도와 식도의 동시적 파열상은 매우 드물게 발생되고 있다. 그러나 최그들어 고속 교통사고의 증가와 환자에 대한 응급체계의 발전으로 점차 치험 보고례가 증가되고 있다. 저자들은 흉부의 둔상에 의하여 기도와 식도에 종적으로 긴 파열상을 입은 환자 2례의 치험을 보고한다. 1례는 이전 병원에서 시행한 기관식도 재건술이 실패한 상태에서 전원되어와 2차적으로 식도절제 및 기관재건술을 실시하였으나 사망하였고. 다른 1례는 식도절제 및 기도재건술로 합병증이 없이 생존하였다.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.316-318
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• 2013

Rupture of the esophagus after blunt trauma is a rare event. But any type of esophageal rupture has the high morbidity and mortality rate. In these situations, the sign and symptom of the esophageal rupture is subtle and nonspecific; therefore, the physicians are usually not suspicious. Delaying in diagnosis prevents proper treatment (surgical or non-surgical) before significant complications occurred. We report a case of a cervical esophageal perforation with primary repair and drainage after blunt trauma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.546-549
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• 1990

Spontaneous esophageal perforation occurred rarely but often lead to a high mortality and morbidity. We had experienced one case of spontaneous rupture of esophagus. A 52 - year old male patient was admitted to our hospital because of the chest pain and massive hematemesis after emetic strain. Esophagogram that taken at private clinic revealed leakage of dye into the right pleural space. Under the diagnosis of the thoracic esophageal perforation, two stage operation was planned because the size of perforation was large and pyothorax was developed on the right side. At first, exclusion and diversion of the esophagus were carried out. After six months, the esophageal reconstruction with left colon was performed.