A case of spontaneous extracranial epidural emphysema.
OBJECTIVE
To report a rare case of spontaneous extracranial epidural emphysema.


METHODS
An 18-year-old woman with a recent diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus presented with acute onset of cough, dyspnea and subcutaneous emphysema. An esophageal endoscopy revealed an ulcerative lesion in the upper third of the esophagus that was diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. A computed tomographic scan of the chest showed spinal epidural emphysema in addition to pneumomediastinum and pneumoperitoneum. A few days later, the patient died of aspiration pneumonia and persistent epidural emphysema.


CONCLUSIONS
The spontaneous extracranial epidural emphysema in our case resulted from a bout of cough with tracking of air from the pneumomediastinum through the emaciated tissue planes into the epidural space.
Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C., USA.
Sankalp
S
Gokhale
Sanjay
S
Gokhale
D000293:Adolescent; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis; D004646:Emphysema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004824:Epidural Space / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013352:Subcutaneous Emphysema / Q000175:diagnosis; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed