Long-standing fish-bone foreign body in extrapharyngeal space; A case report

A case of a long-standing foreign body in extrapharyngeal space is reported. A 61-year-old male experienced pharyngalgia after eating a sea bream. The pharyngalgia disappeared after 3 days. Six months later, he visited our hospital complaining of hoarseness, pharyngalgia and dyspnea. On laryngeal fiberscopy, we observed paralysis of the left vocal cord and edema of the left arytenoid and the left side of the epiglottis, but we found no foreign body. A cervical soft X-ray film revealed the foreign body in extrapharyngeal space. After we mitigated inflammation by using methylpredonisolone and antibiotics and identified the position of the foreign body by CT scan, we removed it by laryngomicro surgery. It was a fish-bone measuring 20 mm in length. Vocal cord paralysis disappeaed several days later.