Alemayehu Abdi, Worku Irko, Sisay Gulilat, Getachew Eyerusalem, Birhanu Firaol, Fikadu Desalegn
Department of Radiology, Adama Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Medical College, Adama, Ethiopia.
Debi Diagnostic Center, Adama, Ethiopia.
Radiol Case Rep. 2025 Jun 24;20(9):4536-4539. doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2025.05.073. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Esophageal perforation represents a rare but life-threatening emergency that demands prompt diagnosis and multidisciplinary management to reduce associated morbidity and mortality. Although any esophageal segment may be affected, the thoracic esophagus is most frequently involved, with perforations typically resulting from iatrogenic causes, trauma, or spontaneous rupture. Food bolus-induced perforations are exceptionally uncommon, with perforation by impacted hot potato being extraordinarily rare-only 1 prior case has been reported in medical literature. Computed tomography (CT) plays an indispensable diagnostic role, with characteristic findings including focal esophageal wall discontinuity, extraluminal mediastinal gas, and adjacent fat stranding. We describe a 16-year-old male prisoner who presented with chest pain and dysphagia 48 hours after inadvertently swallowing a hot potato; CT confirmed thoracic esophageal perforation secondary to the impacted bolus. The patient was managed nonoperatively with excellent clinical outcome. To our knowledge, this represents only the second reported case of esophageal perforation caused by an impacted hot potato.
食管穿孔是一种罕见但危及生命的急症，需要迅速诊断并进行多学科管理，以降低相关的发病率和死亡率。虽然食管的任何节段都可能受累，但胸段食管最常被累及，穿孔通常由医源性原因、创伤或自发性破裂引起。食物团块导致的穿孔极为罕见，被热土豆阻塞导致的穿孔更是极其罕见——医学文献中仅报道过1例此前病例。计算机断层扫描（CT）发挥着不可或缺的诊断作用，特征性表现包括局灶性食管壁连续性中断、纵隔腔外气体以及相邻脂肪条索影。我们报告一名16岁男性囚犯，在无意中吞下热土豆48小时后出现胸痛和吞咽困难；CT证实为因食物团块阻塞导致的胸段食管穿孔。该患者接受了非手术治疗，临床结局良好。据我们所知，这是第二例由被阻塞的热土豆导致食管穿孔的报道病例。
