Two Cases of Spontaneous Retropharyngeal and Cardiomediastinal Emphysema

We report here two cases of spontaneous retropharyngeal arid cardiomediastinal emphysema. The patients were a 15-year-old boy, who developed a foreign body sensation in the pharynx after he ran and a 16-year-old boy who developed pain in the anterior neck after he spoke loudly. X-ray and CT examination findings revealed air in the retropharyngeal and cardiomediastional regions in both patients. Antibiotics and a week of rest were prescribed and these complaints disappeared. Sixty-four cases of spontaneous mediastinal emphysema, including our two cases, reported in the Japanese literature in the period between 1992 and 2001 are also reviewed and discussed in this paper.