[Surgical management of pharyngo-esophageal foreign bodies subsequent to the failure of endoscopic interventions].

The authors present 15 cases of patients with pharyngo-oesophageal foreign bodies, of which 6 occurred in subjects with a normal, healthy oesophagus. In two cases the foreign bodies were eliminated spontaneously, one was extracted by endoscopy, two through cervicotomy and one through thoracotomy. The author stress the fact that dental prostheses are very rarely swallowed, and the deglutition of a live fish is mentioned --. In 7 patients the foreign body became struck in an old post-caustic oesophageal stenosis. In one of these patients the foreign body was extracted by thoracotomy, in 3 cases gastrostomy was performed, in 2 cases colo-oesophagoplasty was necessary and in one case the oeso-colic stenosis was recalibrated. The late results were excellent, excepting one case when the patient died a short time after surgery through a cerebral vascular accident. The therapeutic attitude was differentiated in relation with the condition of the oesophagus, the site of the foreign body and the time of hospitalization.