You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Unusual presentation of more common disease/injury
CASE REPORT
Sternoclavicular joint osteophytosis: a difficult diagnosis to swallow
  1. James Ritchie Gill,
  2. David I Morrissey,
  3. Lee Van Rensburg,
  4. Graham Tytherleigh-Strong
  1. Trauma and Orthopaedics, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
  1. Correspondence to Mr James Ritchie Gill, james.ritchie.gill{at}gmail.com

Summary

Unexplained dysphagia requires prompt investigation to rule out a possible underlying malignancy. We describe the case of a 60-year-old man who presented to his family practitioner with a 1-year history of increasing dysphagia with associated pain over the front of his chest. He was referred on to an ear, nose and throat specialist where no obvious laryngeal pathology was found at direct laryngoscopy, but an ‘indentation’ of the right anterior larynx, which increased with external pressure on the sternoclavicular joint (SCJ), was noted. A subsequent CT scan of his neck demonstrated osteoarthritis of the right SCJ with an abnormally large posterior osteophyte. The patient was subsequently referred on to an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in SCJ surgery and underwent an arthroscopic excision of his right SCJ. Soon after surgery, the patient’s dysphagia had settled and his symptoms remain resolved 1 year post surgery.

  • orthopaedic and trauma surgery
  • otolaryngology / ENT
  • osteoarthritis

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2016-219053

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors JRG was the main author leading the writing of this case report.

      DIM contributed to writing the discussion and editing of the whole article.

      LvR helped with imaging, writing of the discussion and editing.

      GT-S was the operating surgeon and oversaw the writing and editing of all aspects of the case report.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.