A Rare Cause of Esophageal Stenosis in an Infant
Bart G. P. Koot,
1
Wendela G. Leeuwenburgh-Pronk,
2
and John Vlot
3
1
Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition,
2
Department of Pediatrics, Emma Children’s Hospital/Academic
Medical Center, and
3
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Sophia Children’s Hospital/Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam,
the Netherlands
Question: A boy, 5 months
of age, presented with pro-
gressive refusal to drink,
regurgitation, and sporadic
vomiting since 1 month. He
was fed mostly by naso-
gastric tube feeding to
guarantee adequate intake.
Solid food had not yet been
introduced.
The boy had a history
of a very large congenital
cystic lymphatic malfor-
mation on his left thorax,
shoulder, and upper arm
(9 Â 8 Â 8 cm) with sec-
ondary hypoplasia of left
thorax and left lung owing
to compression by the
lymphatic malformation in
utero. After several debulking surgeries and sclerotherapy sessions, a limited reduction in size of the malformation was
achieved. No cause for the lymphatic malformation was identified.
The suspicion of an esophageal stenosis as the cause of the feeding difficulties and vomiting in the boy was confirmed by
a contrast-enhanced study of the esophagus using liquid contrast (Figure A) showing a long stenosis in the distal esophagus
(white arrow) with prestenotic dilatation. Subsequently a computed tomography scan of the thorax and abdomen was
performed (Figure B), showing a large structure (black star) in the left upper abdomen displacing the caval vein (large black
arrow) and encasing the nasogastric tube (small black arrow).
What is the cause of the esophageal stenosis?
Look on page 272 for the answer and see the Gastroenterology website (www.gastrojournal.org) for more in-
formation on submitting your favorite image to Clinical Challenges and Images in GI.
Conflicts of interest
The authors disclose no conflicts.
© 2018 by the AGA Institute
0016-5085/$36.00
https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2018.01.046
CLINICAL CHALLENGES AND IMAGES IN GI
Gastroenterology 2018;155:271–272