Fecopneumothorax: a rare complication of esophagectomy.

Markogiannakis, Haridimos; Theodorou, Dimitrios; Tzertzemelis, Dimitrios; Dardamanis, Dimitrios; Toutouzas, Konstantinos G; Misthos, Panagiotis; Katsaragakis, Stilianos · Ann Thorac Surg · 2007

case_report · Level V

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Abstract

Intrathoracic colon herniation after esophagectomy is rare. Furthermore, fecopneumothorax is an extremely infrequent clinical entity. We believe this is the first report in the literature of a patient with fecopneumothorax due to diverticular perforation of intrathoracically herniated transverse colon 2 months after transthoracic esophagectomy and cervical esophagogastric anastomosis. The relative literature addressing cause, clinical presentation, diagnosis, management, and prevention of this life-threatening complication of esophagectomy is reviewed.

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