Beyza Özçınar1, Kıvanç Derya Peker1, Sertaç Demirel1, Fatih Yanar1, Koray Tuncer2, Abdullah İğci1

1Department of General Surgery, Istanbul University Istanbul School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
2Clinic of Gastroenterology, Memorial Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Herein, a case of intramural esophageal dissection is reported and the literature is reviewed. Intramural esophageal dissection is a rare but well described condition that is characterized by a laceration between the esophageal mucosa and submucosa but without perforation. A female patient aged 86 years was hospitalized with a diagnosis of abdominal aortic aneurysm. After placement of an aortic stent, she was started on intravenous heparin. After the procedure, the patient had retching and vomiting due to sedative drugs. On the first day after the procedure, the patient experienced sudden-onset chest pain, hematemesis, back pain and odynophagia. A hematoma was detected in the thoracic esophagus, which was opened during endoscopy and began to bleed suddenly owing to air insufflation. A false lumen was visualized within the esophagus. There was no perforation. The patient was followed up conservatively and discharged from the hospital uneventfully. In conclusion, we propose that esophageal transection, a condition that is widely regarded as relatively benign in the literature, has the potential to lead to perforation. It would be expected that most cases of esophageal transection would be managed conservatively.

Keywords: Esophagus, esophagus transection, transection


 

Peer Review

Externally peer-reviewed.

Author Contributions

Concept – B.Ö.; Design – B.Ö.; Supervision – A.İ.; Resources – K.T.; Materials – S.D.; Data Collection and/or Processing – F.Y.; Analysis and/or Interpretation – K.D.P., H.Ş.; Literature Search – K.D.P.; Writing Manuscript – B.Ö.; Critical Review – B.Ö.

Conflict of Interest

No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Financial Disclosure

The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.