Abstract
Anterior cervical spine fusion and stabilization with plating are well-established surgical procedures for the treatment of myelopathy, cervical spine traumas, and spinal infectious diseases. Various complications have been described in the literature, more frequently, intraoperative bleeding, peri- or postoperative hypopharyngeal, and/or esophageal ruptures with mediastinal deep infection and loosening and extrusion of the screws from the plating. Screw migration has also been observed as a complication of the procedure, either early in the postoperative period or delayed, even after many years. In some instances, the esophageal perforation can recover spontaneously with absence of complications, even if a case of plate failure and graft migration with lethal sudden airways obstruction has been reported. We describe a case of hypopharyngeal screw migration after cervical spine stabilization with plating never described before in the literature.
Highlights
Due to the improved safety and outcomes, anterior surgical approaches to the cervical spine have gained popularity in the last decade
Various complications have been described in the literature, more frequently, intraoperative bleeding, peri- or postoperative hypopharyngeal, and/or esophageal ruptures with mediastinal deep infection and loosening and extrusion of the screws from the plating
We describe a case of hypopharyngeal screw migration after cervical spine stabilization with plating never described before in the literature
Summary
Due to the improved safety and outcomes, anterior surgical approaches to the cervical spine have gained popularity in the last decade. The indications for this procedure are represented by cervical degenerative, neoplastic, and traumatic lesions. Mostly due to bleeding and rupture of hypopharyngeal and/or esophageal walls with mediastinal deep infection and loosening and extrusion of the screws from the plating. Migration of the screw after plating has been reported [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], the site of migration being more frequently the esophagus
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