Anterior cervical screw extrusion leading to acute upper airway obstruction: case report

Case report of late postoperative complication.

There have been a number of reports of migration and extrusion of cervical fusion instrumentation. The majority of such cases have a benign outcome. To our knowledge, cervical instrumentation extrusion resulting in prevertebral abscess and acute airway obstruction has not been reported.

A 56-year-old man who had undergone a prior C3-C6 anterior cervical decompression and fusion presented to a hospital with dysphagia and acute airway obstruction requiring an emergency tracheostomy. His neck radiograph showed that a C6 screw was missing compared to prior films. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a large prevertebral abscess anterior to C2-C7 causing complete upper airway obstruction.

He underwent surgical drainage of the abscess and had a good neurologic recovery.

We report a case of acute upper airway obstruction from prevertebral abscess, likely secondary to a loosened anterior cervical screw penetrating the prevertebral soft tissue. In contrast to case reports in the literature involving instrumentation extrusion with a usually benign outcome, our case presented with a life-threatening condition.