Perforation of the esophagus. Experience from a department of thoracic surgery.

A series of 39 patients treated for perforation of the esophagus in a department of thoracic surgery is presented and discussed. All but three of the lesions arose from instrumentation within the esophagus. The treatment was mainly operative. There were no deaths among the nine patients with perforation of the cervical esophagus, but the mortality was 63% in the patients with thoracic lesions, partly as a result of frequent presence of serious disease in other organs. The authors stress the importance of more rigorous attention during intra-esophageal instrumentation to early detection and treatment of perforation.