[A case of spontaneous rupture of the esophagus]

Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus is rare. It's initial symptoms are so varied that we often have a hard time for making early diagnosis of esophageal rupture. In this case, emergency surgery was performed immediately after early diagnosis by chest CT. When the left thoracotomy was done, the upper portion of the stomach protruded with it's mucous membrane was reflected outward into the thoracic cavity above the diaphragm. When the reflected stomach was drawn back into the abdominal cavity for replacement, a ruptured wound of about 5 cm was observed on the left wall of the esophagus above the diaphragm. The stomach was seen protruded from this ruptured wound of the esophagus, with the mucous membrane reflected outward. No pathological abnormalities of esophagus itself was detected even after through investigation to search the cause for this clinically manifested weakness of the esophageal wall which eventually ruptured causing protrusion of the upper portion of the stomach into the thoracic cavity. The mechanism of this gastric protrusion is difficult to define. The most informative diagnostic investigation was the chest CT.