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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2020; 15(01): 218-221
DOI: 10.4103/ajns.AJNS_181_19
Case Report

Dysphagia in a young adult: Rare case of giant cervical osteophyte

Abhinandan Mallepally
Department of Spine Services, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi
,
Vikas Tandon
Department of Spine Services, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi
,
Harvinder Chhabra
Department of Spine Services, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi
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Cervical osteophytes may be seen in diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, ankylosing spondylitis, posttraumatic, postoperative, degenerative causes, cervical spondylosis, and infectious spondylitis. A cervical osteophyte is very rarely considered among the differentials for symptoms of dysphagia. C5–C6 as well as C6–C7 being a site of greater load-bearing and mobility, the propensity to form osteophytes is high, with a small osteophyte leading to local mass effect. A 42-year-old male patient presented with mild dyspnea and significant dysphagia since 8 months, accompanied by dysphonia, weight loss, and intermittent aspiration. Clinical examination including neurological examination was normal. A barium swallow showed that osteophytes were severely protruding and displacing the lower pharynx and the proximal esophagus anterosuperiorly. The patient underwent surgical removal of the osteophyte through Smith–Robinson approach. Complaints of dysphagia were significantly decreased in postoperative period. A thorough evaluation is necessary to rule out other causes of dysphagia. Surgical management of this uncommon condition might be considered after confirmation of the osteophyte to be the offending lesion as it has favorable clinical outcomes.

Key-words:

Dysphagia - giant cervical osteophyte - management

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 17 June 2019

Accepted: 21 January 2020

Article published online:
16 August 2022

© 2020. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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