Case Report
Copyright ©2010 Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 7, 2010; 16(13): 1673-1675
Published online Apr 7, 2010. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i13.1673
A geriatric patient with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis
Berrin Karadag, Huseyin Cat, Selma Aksoy, Banu Ozulu, Ali Osman Ozturk, Sukru Oguz, Yuksel Altuntas
Berrin Karadag, Huseyin Cat, Banu Ozulu, Ali Osman Ozturk, Yuksel Altuntas, Sisli Etfal Research and Training Hospital, 2. Internal Medicine Clinic, Sisli, 34377, İstanbul, Turkey
Selma Aksoy, Sisli Etfal Research and Training Hospital, Neurology Clinic, Sisli, 34377, İstanbul, Turkey
Sukru Oguz, Sisli Etfal Research and Training Hospital, Radiology Clinic, Sisli, 34377, İstanbul, Turkey
Author contributions: Karadag B, Cat H, Ozturk AO and Altuntas Y designed the work; Karadag B and Ozulu B wrote the paper; Karadag B, Cat H, Aksoy S and Oguz S followed up the patient; Karadag B, Altuntas Y and Ozulu B reviewed the article.
Correspondence to: Berrin Karadag, MD, Sisli Etfal Research and Training Hospital, 2. Internal Medicine Clinic, Sisli, 34377, İstanbul, Turkey. bekaradag@yahoo.com
Telephone: +90-212-2312209 Fax: +90-212-2341121
Received: December 9, 2009
Revised: January 5, 2010
Accepted: January 12, 2010
Published online: April 7, 2010
Abstract

The most frequent health problems seen in senility are chronic and degenerative diseases. A 75-year-old male patient with the complaints of weight loss and difficulty in swallowing was admitted to our hospital from a nursing home. Upper system fiber-optic gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed and a mass at the junction of the hypopharynx and esophagus just below recessus piriformis obstructing almost the whole of the lumen and blocking the distal passage was detected. Computed tomography revealed marked narrowing secondary to osseous hypertrophy in the air column of the hypopharynx and proximal esophagus. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis or Forestier’s disease is an idiopathic disease characterized by the ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament of vertebra and some of the extraspinal ligaments. In the present case we aim to discuss an elderly patient who suffered from dysphagia and weight loss and the diagnostic stages.

Keywords: Dysphagia, Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, Elderly, Weight loss