[Esophageal cyst--a rare cause of backache]

Cysts of the esophagus are rare mediastinal tumors presenting a large variety of clinical symptoms. Even with modern methods of examination an exact diagnosis is difficult to obtain and often only possible after histological examination. Complications are perforation, or pulmonary, thoracic or esophageal haemorrhage. First choice of therapy is the exstirpation. We report on a 50 year old man with backache and the initial diagnosis of renal colic. Only the magnetic resonance image showed an isolated mediastinal esophageal cyst as the reason. The cyst was removed by thoracotomy. The operation and treatment were without complications. Symptomatology, diagnostical pitfalls and the therapy are described.