title: Recurrent spontaneous esophageal rupture.
abstract: Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus is a relatively uncommon event, and recurrent rupture is extremely rare. We present a patient who experienced and survived 2 spontaneous perforations of the esophagus, occurring 6 years apart. A 43-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with upper abdominal pain after vomiting. Esophagoscopy, esophagogram, and computed tomography were suggestive of esophageal rupture. Emergency left thoracolaparotomy revealed a 20-mm perforation of the left lower esophageal wall that had been previously repaired. After the perforation was repaired with a single-layer closure, the mediastinum and pleural cavity were drained. The patient recovered well and was discharged from the hospital on postoperative day 29. To the best of our knowledge, only 7 previous cases of recurrent spontaneous esophageal perforation have been reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan. keietta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ieta
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsunobu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Teshigahara
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Osone
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saitama Red Cross Hospital, 8-3-33 Kamiochiai, Chuo-ku, Saitama, 338-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgical Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kuwano
keywords: Esophagus; Recurrence; Review; Spontaneous rupture