Late presentation of esophageal foreign body impaction, remaining from a car accident 40 years earlier: A case report

Background: The foreign body impaction (FBI) is an emergent medical condition caused by any object, material, or food trapped in the upper gastrointestinal tract, most commonly caused by swallowing, iatrogenic, or penetrating trauma. The cases reported in the literature are acute, commonly presenting within few days after the accident. As far as we are concerned, such a late presentation of an esophageal FBI has not been reported to date.

Case Presentation: In this case report, we present a 67-year old male patient who was referred with severe dysphagia, recurrent fistula with sepsis, weight loss, malnutrition, and pulmonary aspiration. The history revealed a car accident 40 years ago with a penetrating wound in the neck. Rigid esophagoscopy was not possible, and the tip of car gear (3×4 cm) could be successfully removed by open surgical procedure with neck exploration.

Conclusions: This case refers to the necessity of paying greater attention to the possible foreign bodies, which can remain from any accident, in order to prevent its complications caused by late diagnosis.