Fish bone leads to acute pericarditis: correct diagnosis and successful treatment

Although esophageal perforation rarely occurs after foreign body ingestion, perforations in the esophagus can lead to serious complications such as pericarditis.

This is a case report of a 48-year-old man without any cardiovascular risk factors who presented to the emergency department with chest pain. The typical electrocardiogram and thoracic computed tomography changes were helpful in establishing the diagnosis of acute pericarditis, which was due to the migration of a fish bone through the esophagus and extending into the left atrium.

We successfully diagnosed this patient with acute pericarditis, which was due to the migration of a fish bone through the esophagus and extending into the left atrium. Our thoracic surgeon colleagues removed the foreign body via thoracotomy. He was extubated on day 11, and no chest pain or dyspnea during a six-month follow-up period. A review of the literature revealed similar cases with unsuspected foreign body ingestion, in which the patients presented to the emergency department with various symptoms suggestive of acute pericarditis.