HAIRY ESOPHAGUS - COMPLICATION OF PHARYNGOESOPHAGEAL RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY IN 2 CASES

Carcinomas of the head and neck accont for 5% of all malignancies occurring annually in the United States. Current therapy for invasive lesions generally consists of a combination of radiation and surgery. Attempts at a truly curative procedure may require radical resection with loss of major portions of the hypopharynx and esophagus. This, in turn, necessitates extensive secondary reconstruction in order to maintain a degree of normal oropharyngeal function. In some of these operations, a full thickness skin graft is mobilized to reconstruct the pharynx and esophagus. Since the epithelial surface becomes the inner surface of the reconstructed tube, these flaps may continue to bear hair. This may give rise to dysphagia and, in addition, give rise to a characteristic radiographic appearance in postsurgical esophagrams. The authors describe the problems encountered in two patients who developed endopharyngoesophageal hair after reconstructive surgery for neck carcinoma. The authors also point out the characteristic radiographic appearance of this postsurgical state.