title: [Difficult weaning due to tracheal compression by an esophageal bezoar].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bezoars result from the aggregation of ingested materials (food, drugs, hair) that accumulate at a certain anatomic level in the gastrointestinal tract. It is a rare condition, which is favoured by a reduction in intestinal motility, or by a primary abnormality reducing the patency of gastrointestinal tract.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present a case when acute respiratory symptoms revealed an oesophageal bezoar. The patient presented with compression of the posterior tracheal wall by an oesophageal bezoar. The diagnosis was confirmed by oesophageal endoscopy. Treatment consisted in endoscopy-guided fragmentation and removal of the bezoar followed by topical lavage.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Oesophageal bezoars may account for compression of the posterior tracheal wall causing acute respiratory failure or difficult weaning from the ventilator. The close anatomic proximity between the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract may explain the impact of oesophageal bezoars on the respiratory tract.
authors.affiliation: Service de Pneumologie et réanimation respiratoire, CHU Dijon, France. claudio.rabec@chu-dijon.fr
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rabec
authors.forename: K-N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Kabeya
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonniaud
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jouve
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baudouin
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Favrolt
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camus
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Camus
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001630:Bezoars / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D004945:Esophagoscopy; D004947:Esophagus / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014135:Tracheal Stenosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D015300:Ventilator Weaning