title: Missing anterior cervical plate and screws: a case report.
abstract: METHODS
  A case report of an anterior cervical plate and screws that disappeared completely.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To present a case of a missing anterior cervical plate and screws, this being quite a rare complication of a cervical implant.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  No mention of this complication was found in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Methods in the literature and clinical presentation are reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dislodgment of an anterior cervical plate occurred in association with an methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. Three months later the implants had disappeared, presumably passing without notice through the gastrointestinal tract. Whole body fluoroscopy could not identify any residual plate or screws. No esophageal fistula could be detected by barium meal swallow study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The plate and screws became dislodged, eroded through the posterior wall of the esophagus, then traversed the limit of the gastrointestinal tract, passing with feces without significant morbidity. Whether the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection contributed to this unique circumstance or is coincidentally related to it remained a matter of speculation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kyoto City Hospital, Higashitakada-cho, Mibu, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. shfuji@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujibayashi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shikata
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamiya
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001860:Bone Plates / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001863:Bone Screws / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D011859:Radiography; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013123:Spinal Fusion / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000150:complications; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology