One Case Report Of Esophageal Fistula After Anterior Cervical Surgery And The Relevant Clinical Analysis Of Literature Review

In recent years, the anterior cervical surgery has been adopted andpopularized in clinical practice. Due to the fact that complicatedanatomy and important structures are involved in the anterior cervicalsurgery and most patients suffer from cervical spondylosis and cervicalvertebra trauma, complications often arise in and after the operations. In1985, Balmased and his colleagues first reported the complications aftercervical esophageal fistula surgery. And there have been followingreports on related complications at home and abroad. The reportedmorbidity rates have varied from each other and according to the reportsof Newhouse and others the morbidity rate stands0.04%to0.25%. Thereports of Jin Dadi and others show that there is one case of esophagealfistula in412anterior cervical surgeries with a morbidity rate of0.24%.The group take in147patients who have been treated through anteriorcervical surgeries for their cervical spondylosis or cervical vertebratrauma. There have been3cases of complication from anterior cervicalsurgery and one of them is the esophageal fistula complication. Themorbidity rate is0.68%, higher than the reported rate of0.04%-0.25%. Esophageal fistula is the disastrous complication of anterior cervicalsurgeries. According to the reports, the common symptoms of mostcomplications include throat discomfort, incision pain in the neck,complications in the ilium and donor side areas, cerebrospinal fluidfistula, hematoma and infection of incision, etc.The symptoms appearrelatively early and less severely. They can be eliminated after properand timely treatment. However, in comparison with other post-operationcomplications of other anterior cervical surgeries, despite its lowmorbidity rate, its consequences can be rather serious and often causeother complications or even death. The reported mortality rate is9%-45%. The old age of the patients in anterior cervical surgeries maybe one possible factor. The patients of cervical surgeries are ofteninjured in the spinal cord and paraplegic and they tend to be confined inbed for a long time after the operation and may die from the lunginfection as well as other complications like liver or kidney failure. Theauthor reported one case of patient who has post-operation complicationesophageal fistula after anterior cervical surgery and reviewed andanalyzed domestic relevant literature reviews of esophageal fistula afteranterior cervical surgeries. The purpose of the thesis is to enhance theunderstanding of the complication esophageal fistula after anteriorcervical surgeries，Reduce mortality and to explore and analyze thecauses, clinical symptoms, diagnosis, treatments as well as preventative measures for the complication.