This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Laryngology/ Speech/ Language Pathology  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Seth H. Evans, BA; John M. DelGaudio, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2005;131:523-525.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

INTRODUCTION

Pharyngeal perforation is a rare but extremely serious complication of anterior cervical spinal surgery. Surgical fixation of the anterior cervical vertebral bodies is indicated after severe flexion injury with fracture and destabilization. The surgery is performed via an open incision and anterior approach to the cervical vertebrae.¹ Perforation of the pharynx as a result of anterior cervical spine surgery may present immediately in the perioperative period or may have a more insidious onset weeks, months, or even years after surgery.^2-8 Such perforations may result in life-threatening complications such as mediastinitis, meningitis, and sepsis.⁹ We report a case of delayed pharyngeal perforation and pseudodiverticulum formation that presented approximately 2 years after anterior plating of the cervical spine.

REPORT OF A CASE

A 34-year-old woman presented with a medical history that was significant for a motor vehicle crash approximately 2 years before admission to our institution. She underwent . . . [Full Text of this Article]

COMMENT

CONCLUSIONS

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Author Affiliations: Department of Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?