Forestier-Rotes-Querol's disease.: Ossification of the anterior cervical longitudinal ligament as a cause of dysphagia

Forestier's disease or diffuse idiophatic skeletal hyperostosis is a systemic reumathological abnormality of unknown etiology(18). It produces calcification-ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament. The low dorsal region is the most affected in the raquis(18,28). These patients are tipically asymptomatic or with few symptoms (minimal joint pain, spinal pain, stiffness)(25). Dysphagia is the most common symptom when the disease affects the cervical spine; less frequent is dyspnea, both secondary to extrinsic compression of the esophagus and trachea. Neurological complaints are quite rare(18,21,25). In the 1970s Resnick described specific radiological criteria for the diagnosis of Forestier's disease that are still used today(18,28,29,30). It affects men more frequently than women (2:1); the peak occurrence is in patients in their 60s(18,25). We present two cases diagnosed by severe difficulty with deglution, a 84 years-old woman and a 54 years-old man; we operated on them for surgical decompression of the esophagus with resection of osteophytes C3-C4 and C5-C6 respectively through a conventional anterolateral neck approach. Relief of difficulty in swallowing was immediately ensued.