Gastric tube ulcer perforating the pericardium after subtotal esophagectomy

Subtotal esophagectomy with retrosternal transposition of the gastric tube to the neck was performed in a 62-year-old patient with squamous cell carcinoma of the proximal third of the esophagus. He developed a salivatory fistula in the early postoperative period that healed spontaneously. Five months later, the patient developed partial stenosis of the esophagogastric anastomosis which required recervicotomy and excision, after numerous failed dilatation attempts. Eighteen months later, the patient presented to the hospital for severe pain in the upper abdomen. Clinical work-up revealed pericardial perforation by the gastric tube ulcer necessitating emergent surgery and gastric tube removal. We present a patient who developed both early and late complications of subtotal esophagectomy with gastric tube transposition as well as a review of the literature.