Patient Dies From Untreated Throat Cancer

Case Overview

This case involves a fifty-six-year-old female patient who underwent treatment for difficulty swallowing both solids and liquids. The patient underwent several rounds of therapeutic dilations and barium swallows but was never fully worked to exclude malignancy as a cause of her issues. The patient was treated with conservative medical management for a number of years until her condition became worse as she lost a significant amount of weight over a short time period. The patient was eventually diagnosed with an adenocarcinoma of the esophagus that metastasized to her liver, lungs, and vertebral column. The patient died shortly after her diagnosis, as no surgical intervention was indicated due to advanced disease.

Questions to the Gastroenterology expert and their responses

What other tests should have been done to detect this condition?

Modern imaging techniques, including barium esophagography, contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), and positron-emission tomography (PET), are powerful tools in the detection, diagnosis, and staging of this malignancy. Barium esophagography has optimal sensitivity for the detection of lesions when a double-contrast technique is used.

About the expert

This expert has 44 years of experience as a practicing gastroenterologist, many of them as a chaired, tenured professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (widely recognized as one of the top 5-6 GI divisions in the country). He has also received his medical education and training at among the nation's top medical institutions, making him highly qualified to review the case at hand.

E-000771

Specialties:

Gastroenterology

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