[Spontaneous rupture of the esophagus]

Eighteen patients (16 men and two women), aged 20 to 77 years, were admitted to the University hospital between 1973 and 1984 for a Boerhaave's syndrome. Fourteen over eighteen were more than forty years old. Other particular features were the frequency of alcoholism (11 patients) and the lack of preexisting gastrointestinal symptomatology. The cardinal symptom, pain, occurred in 17 cases. It was preceded in 10 subjects by vomiting. Subcutaneous emphysema was only found in five patients, but standard chest X-ray showed seven times a pneumomediastinum. Pleural effusion was present in 14 subjects. Thirteen patients underwent thoracotomy: five within 48 h (1 death) and eight after 48 h (4 deaths); two further deaths were due to withholding surgery, and a third by performing bipolar oesophageal exclusion at a late stage (8th day); six of these deaths were related to local infection. The clinical and radiological features of Boerhaave's syndrome are presented in a review of the literature; particular attention is paid to the various methods of treatment.