ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Caustic ingestion is still a health problem of utmost importance in the West. In developing countries, this incident remains at increase and it is associated with unfavorable factors like social, economic, and educational handicaps, besides a lack of prevention. Esophagocele is a rare consequence of caustic ingestion.
AIM:
We aimed to describe a patient with multiple caustic ingestions who presented an esophagocele resected by videothoracoscopy.
METHODS:
A woman ingested caustic soda when she was only 17 years old in a suicidal attempt during a depressive crisis. Initially, she was submitted to a retrosternal esophagocoloplasty with the maintenance of her damaged esophagus. After 1 year of this first surgery, she ingested caustic soda again in a new suicidal attempt. Her transposed large bowel in the first surgery became narrow, being replaced in a second surgery by a retrosternal esophagogastroplasty. Still, at the second surgery, her damaged esophagus remained in its original position in the posterior mediastinum. However, after 5 years, she developed an esophagocele.
RESULTS:
The esophagocele was resected through videothoracoscopy in a prone position, employing four trocars. The postoperative was uneventful.
CONCLUSION:
Esophageal exclusion must always be recorded because esophagocele presents unspecific symptoms. The videothoracoscopy in a prone position is an excellent technical option to resect esophagoceles.
HEADINGS
Caustics; Esophageal Stenosis; Esophagoplasty; Mucocele; Esophagectomy; Thoracoscopy
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