Male patient, T.V. Q (52 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) was admitted to the emergency room in a state of painful swallowing, neck stuck after eating a party in the previous evening. Through examination and initial endoscopy, doctors recorded a foreign object stuck, which was a sharp bone fragment, stuck tightly in the lumen of the esophagus, with many sharp ends piercing through the wall of the esophagus, making it impossible to remove the foreign object through endoscopy.
CT-scan results showed that the foreign object had pierced the esophagus wall in the neck section near the sternum, posing a risk of widespread infection if not treated promptly. Faced with this situation, the team decided to perform surgery to open the neck segment of the esophagus to remove the foreign object.
Dr. Nguyen Duy Tan - Head of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery Department, Thong Nhat Hospital HCMC said that the key factor helping the case to be successfully treated is that the patient arrives at the hospital early within 12 hours. If they arrive late, the infection will spread, the mediastinum inflammation will be very difficult to treat thoroughly and the mortality rate will increase.
