Late management of penetrating oesophageal injury. Case reports.

Two cases of oesophageal perforation at the thoracic inlet, due to penetrating trauma, are described. In the first case the diagnosis was established 2 weeks after injury; the second case was diagnosed within 30 hours, was treated unsuccessfully and referred to us 1 month after injury. The management of these severely ill patients is discussed. Defunctioning of the oesophagus was necessary in both cases, and later reconstruction was carried out in one of the patients.