User:Mr. Ibrahem/Esophageal rupture

Esophageal rupture, also known as Boerhaave syndrome, is a full thickness tear of the esophageal wall. Symptoms generally include chest pain. Other symptoms may include shortness of breath, fever, and trouble swallowing. Complications can include mediastinitis and sepsis.

Causes include endoscopy, trauma, caustic ingestion, vomiting, seizures, abdominal trauma, compressed air injury, and childbirth. While in most cases the esophagus is previously normal, esophagitis and esophageal ulcers are risk factors. Other risk factors include alcoholism and eating in excess. Diagnosis may be supported by a chest X-ray, esophagogram, CT scan, or endoscopy. A crackling sound may be heart in time with the heart beat.

Treatment is with intravenous fluids, antibiotics such as piperacillin/tazobactam, and surgery when the lower esophagus is involved. The risk of death is high and without treatment people may die within days. Some injuries of the middle and upper esophagus may be managed without surgery. Early diagnosis improves outcomes.

Esophageal rupture is rare. This condition was first documented by the 18th-century physician Herman Boerhaave, after whom it is named. Some use the term "Boerhaave" only for those cases due to increased intra-esophageal pressure. Mallory-Weiss syndrome is a much less severe condition in which only the mucosa tears.