Esophageal Impingement from Anterior Cervical Osteophytes Associated with Cervical Spondylosis

Abstract

We present the case of a 50-year-old lady with progressive neck pain, cervical myelopathy and dysphagia. Cervical spine radiographs and MRI demonstrated a large anterior cervical osteophyte complex impinging on the esophagus as well as cervical stenosis. Surgical treatment with anterior resection of osteophytes and anterior cervical discectomy with fusion relieved the patient’s dysphagia and neck pain. While there are several reports in the literature documenting resection of anterior osteophytes for dysphagia, most of these cases are secondary to DISH and do not present with neurologic symptoms (radiculopathy or myelopathy). To our knowledge, this is the first case presented where the patient presented with both dysphagia and clinical myelopathy, and required both resection of anterior osteophytes and cervical discectomy with fusion.