Intramural oesophageal haematoma following traumatic neck injury

This case describes a previously well 90-year-old woman who presented with neck pain, swelling, dysphagia and hoarseness following a motor vehicle collision. Oesophageal oedema was visualised on CT of cervical spine and subsequent CT angiography highlighted an actively bleeding intramural oesophageal haematoma (IOH) extending from the cervical oesophagus to the carina. This rare phenomenon (IOH) has been described as a possible consequence of blunt trauma to the neck; however, we found no cases resulting from acceleration/deceleration injury. Although this was a potentially life-threatening injury, our patient made a full recovery with conservative management.