Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus

Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus is a rare emergency that requires immediate diagnosis and superior surgical treatment. Delay in diagnosis is common and is caused mostly by lack of consciousness of the disease and consequent tendency to diagnose a cases as perforated peptic ulcer, pancreatitis, acute coronary disease etc. Mortality and morbidity increase proportionally to the time between esophageal perforation and adequate treatment. In this paper the Authors present a case of Boerhaave's syndrome in a patient who underwent two surgical repairs followed by leakages of the esophageal sutures. The definitive successful treatment has been obtained with a third operation performed after complete sterilization of the mediastinum.     

Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus

Eighteen patients (16 men and two women), aged 20 to 77 years, were admitted to the University hospital between 1973 and 1984 for a Boerhaave's syndrome. Fourteen over eighteen were more than forty years old. Other particular features were the frequency of alcoholism (11 patients) and the lack of preexisting gastrointestinal symptomatology. The cardinal symptom, pain, occurred in 17 cases. It was preceded in 10 subjects by vomiting. Subcutaneous emphysema was only found in five patients, but standard chest X-ray showed seven times a pneumomediastinum. Pleural effusion was present in 14 subjects. Thirteen patients underwent thoracotomy: five within 48 h (1 death) and eight after 48 h (4 deaths); two further deaths were due to withholding surgery, and a third by performing bipolar oesophageal exclusion at a late stage (8th day); six of these deaths were related to local infection. The clinical and radiological features of Boerhaave's syndrome are presented in a review of the literature; particular attention is paid to the various methods of treatment.     

Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus. Case report

We present a 50 years old man who was admitted for severe pain in the chest appeared after vomiting, dyspnoea, cardiovascular collapse. The diagnosis of spontaneous perforation of the esophagus (Boerhaave's syndrome) was confirmed by a radiopaque swallow. We performed a laparotomy, mediastinal drainage, cervical esophagostomy and jejunostomy. Postoperatively, the general state was severe--with high fever, important pleurezia, necessitating pleural drainage, mechanical ventilation for 8 days, parenteral and jejunostomy nutrition. It was possible to close the esophagostomy in the 43rd postoperative day. The patient has been dismissed on the 59th day. Five days later he presented in the ER with severe dyspnoea due to tracheal stenosis--emergency tracheotomy was performed, followed by resection of the stenotic cartilages.