A Case of Esophageal Perforation by an Endoscopic Biopsy

Ahn, Ki Seok; Kim, Ki Joong; Min, Kwi Hwan; Park, Chan Woong; Kim, Ji Woon; Choi, Yo An; Jung, Joon Seong; Kim, Kun Hyung

Abstract

The esophagus or stomach can be perforated during diagnostic upper endoscopy in 0.03 to 0.1 percent. Instrumentation injury, as a whole, is probably the most common single cause of all cases of esophageal perforation. Most of the esophageal perforation result from either therapeutic maneuvers(dilation, sclerotherapy, foreign-body removal etc.) or underlying esophageal lesion(such as strictures or diverticular or neoplasm). Endoscopic perforation of the esophagus may be obvious immediately or within a few hours. Cervical pain, subcutaneous emphysema, fever, tachycardia, and characteristic radiographic appearances make the diagnosis easy, but some distal esophageal injuries are subtler, An immediate esophagogram should be obtained if peirforation is suspected. To select an appropriate course of management, precise delineation of location and the extent of perforation is necessary. The esophageal perforation can be managed conservatively by close observation, esophageal rest, and antibiotic coverage, but the mortality rate of medical treatment is near 12%. Causes of death are sepsis and multisystem organ failure. So we report a case of esophageal perforation by an endoscopic biopsy.