A preventable cause of tracheal injury at oesophagectomy

Advocates of transhiatal oesophagectomy warn of the danger of tracheal injury resulting from the blind dissection of tumours of the upper and middle thirds of the oesophagus when the tumour has invaded the membranous part of the trachea. We report an unusual cause of tracheal injury at transhiatal oesophagectomy due to dissection at the level of the inflated endotracheal cuff in a patient with a tumour at the gastro-oesophageal junction.