Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Otolaryngology
Volume 2013, Article ID 368504, 3 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/368504
Case Report
Idiopathic Oesophageal Dysmotility Disorder:
Stridor Secondary to Megaesophagus
B. G. Natesh,
1
N. Caton,
2
D. Kim,
1
and A. Shetty
1
1
Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3LY, UK
2
ENT Department, St. Mary’s Hospital, Praed Street Paddington, London W2 1NY, UK
Correspondence should be addressed to N. Caton; nadinecaton1@gmail.com
Received 30 August 2013; Accepted 30 October 2013
Academic Editors: A. Gallo, M. Gupta, H.-S. Lin, K. Takano, and M. S. Timms
Copyright © 2013 B. G. Natesh et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
We present an interesting case of an elderly lady who presented with stridor caused by megaesophagus secondary to an acquired
idiopathic dysmotility disorder. We discuss the aetiology and management of megaesophagus secondary to this condition and how
it difers from megaesophagus secondary to achalasia.
1. Introduction
Megaesophagus is commonly associated in patients with
achalasia cardia. Tese patients can present with stridor and
this is widely published in the literature. We present an inter-
esting case of an elderly lady who was presented with stridor
secondary to an acquired idiopathic dysmotility disorder. We
discuss the aetiology and management of megaesophagus
secondary to this condition.
2. Case Report
A 94-year-old female was presented with a 24-hour history of
rapidly increasing stridor associated with a difuse anterior
neck swelling and chest pain radiating to her back. She
had been experiencing hoarseness of voice for the past four
months. She did not report any history of dysphagia or
odynophagia. Her past medical history included a benign
tumour of the sof palate, which was treated with radiother-
apy during the late 1980’s. She is a nonsmoker.
On examination in the emergency department, she had
a difuse, frm anterior neck swelling that was nontender.
Tere was obvious distension of the neck and upper anterior
chest veins suggesting the possibility of a superior vena cava
obstruction as a result of the neck swelling. Te patient was
in extreme distress with an impending airway obstruction. A
chest radiograph (Figure 1) was performed in the emergency
department and demonstrated an unusual large air- flled
swelling in the neck. It was evident that the patient was
tiring and struggling to maintain adequate oxygenation on
maximal oxygen therapy. Te patient was therefore directly
transferred to theatre for further assessment and defnitive
airway management. In theatre, with attendance of the anaes-
thetic and ENT teams, a fexible nasoendoscopic examination
demonstrated a smooth and difuse, noninfamed swelling
of the posterior pharyngeal wall which was causing an acute
airway obstruction. Vocal cord movements were normal but
there was severe oedema of the supraglottic tissues, which
further compromised the airway.
A secure airway needed to be established so the patient
underwent awake fbre-optic intubation, which proved to
be difcult given the gross oedema of the upper airway.
Given the difculty with intubation, a decision was agreed
to perform an emergency tracheostomy under local anaes-
thesia. Subsequent rigid pharyngoscopy demonstrated a
compressible mass in the posterior pharyngeal wall, and
oesophagoscopy revealed massive food impaction of the
whole length of the oesophagus within a grossly dilated
oesophagus. Te impacted food bolus had displaced the
upper oesophagus by causing it to “slide” behind the pharynx
to create the observed posterior pharyngeal wall swelling.
Further, the food impaction had caused local venous con-
gestion and secondary oedema of the upper airway mucosa
compounding the airway obstruction. Food was evacuated up