Successful treatment of mediastinal gas gangrene due to esophageal perforation

Ann Thorac Surg. 2000 Dec;70(6):2143-5. doi: 10.1016/s0003-4975(00)02019-1.

Abstract

Esophageal perforation and mediastinal gas gangrene developed in a 55-year-old male after the endoscopic ethanol injection of a Mallory-Weiss ulcer. Initially, extensive gangrene of the esophagus and the mediastinum was treated by esophagectomy; however, an abundance of Clostridium perfringens in the Gram stain verified the presence of gas gangrene. Subsequently, the patient was transferred to a hyperbaric oxygen center, wherein a total of seven hyperbaric treatments were administered. The patient survived, and 4 months later, after having undergone several reoperations because of pleural empyema, mediastinal abscess, splenic rupture, and acalculous cholecystitis, was discharged and is still surviving.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Esophageal Perforation / diagnosis
  • Esophageal Perforation / etiology
  • Esophageal Perforation / surgery*
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Gas Gangrene / diagnosis
  • Gas Gangrene / surgery*
  • Humans
  • Hyperbaric Oxygenation
  • Male
  • Mediastinitis / diagnosis
  • Mediastinitis / surgery*
  • Middle Aged
  • Reoperation
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed