Late oesophageal perforation after intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography

Serious haemodynamic instability occurred during emergency surgery for a perforated duodenal ulcer in a 72-year-old man with acute myocardial infarction. Intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography was crucial for diagnosis of the location of myocardial infarction in the right ventricle and the subsequent haemodynamic management. Postoperatively, a thrombus in the right coronary artery was removed by coronary angiography. The patient's trachea was extubated on the fourth postoperative day. Another 4 days later a leak in the lower oesophagus was suspected because of pleural empyema, and verified. The patient's trachea had to be re-intubated and an oesophageal stent was inserted. The patient was discharged, fully recovered, 2 months after the operation.