Anterior Cervical Osteophytes Research Articles

OESOPHAGEAL AND TRACHEAL PSEUDO-TUMOURS DUE TO ANTERIOR CERVICAL OSTEOPHYTES.

Osteophytes seldom cause dysphagia. Le Roux (1962) analysed 1,200 patients with dysphagia seen over ten years and in none was cervical spondylosis the cause. Similarly Osborne, Savage and Strange (1960), discussing the problems of diagnosis in 100 consecutive cases of dysphagia, found none due to cervical spondylosis. Hilding and Tachjian (1960) reviewed the world literature and collected 36 cases in which bony masses from the cervical spine caused dysphagia. Cervical osteophytes cause tracheal symptoms even less frequently. We describe two patients with osteophytes of the cervical spine who presented difficulty in diagnosis. One presented with dysphagia and was thought on clinical, endoscopic and radiological evidence to have an oesophageal tumour. The other presented with cough and stridor and was considered clinically and endoscopically to have a tracheal tumour. Exploratory operation was performed in one patient and seriously considered in the other before the correct diagnosis was made. Our object is...