[Dysphagia as a symptom of a ventral cervical prolapsed disk]

Ventral osteophytes, which occur frequently, usually cause no symptoms. They are sometimes identified as the cause of dysphagia. Cervical disc prolapses which cause symptoms of dysphagia are far less common. This paper describes a patient with dysphagia in whom ventral cervical disc prolapse was finally diagnosed by MR tomography, after she had been through a "diagnostic odyssey". The result was subsequently confirmed at surgery. The relevant literature is also reviewed.