title: Pleural empyema: An unusual presentation of esophageal perforation.
abstract: A 67-year-old patient presented with pleural empyema as the sole manifestation of thoracic esophageal perforation, 2 weeks after accidental fish bone ingestion. Nonspecific chest pain and general deterioration, unusual presenting symptoms in themselves, accounted for the extreme delay in the diagnosis. The empyema was treated surgically, and the esophageal perforation conservatively. Despite the poor prognostic factors, the patient recovered completely after 50 days in hospital.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Diseases, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion Israeli Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Solomonov
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Best
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goralnik
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yigla
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016724:Empyema, Pleural / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D004939:Esophageal Perforation / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors