Esophageal perforation by tilapia fish bone ingestion - A case report

Esophageal perforation (EP) is a rare, severe and challenging surgical emergency which can be caused by several factors. This report presents the case of a patient with EP caused by ingestion of a Tilapia fish bone.

A 41-year-old male patient presented with a six-day history of painful right-sided neck swelling, associated with a progressive dysphagia, regurgitation, fever and chills. Physical examination revealed an axillary temperature of 39 °C and a subcutaneous emphysema in the neck. Cervical spine x-ray and ultrasound scan revealed a neck foreign body with abscess. The case was managed by a right cervicotomy.

Despite over 20-years of clinical experience in Ghana, this was the first case of EP caused by a 2 cm long Tilapia fish bone, to be treated by the authors. This is significant because tilapia consumption is very popular in Ghana and it would be predicted that such cases would be more common. It is suggested that such cases do occur more frequently but are not reported to hospitals due to cultural-spiritual beliefs.

Ingestion of Tilapia fish bones can cause significant damage to the esophagus and Tilapia should be consumed with care. Ultrasound is a very useful tool with high diagnostic accuracy for EP. Further studies are needed to establish the prevalence of EP from fish bone ingestion in Ghana and the factors accounting for the mismatch between the high consumption of Tilapia across the population and the low occurrence of patients presenting with EP from fish bone ingestion.