Background: Benign tumors of the esophagus are rare. They include leiomyomas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, neurofibromas and lipomas. In this study we present our experience with enucleation of these 13 tumors for 10 years. Material and Method: A retrospective review of patients who underwent enucleation of benign esophageal tumors between 1995 and 2005 was conducted. Symptom, tumor location and size, operative approach and outcomes after surgery were recorded. Result Thirteen patients were identified(leiomyoma: n=12; GIST n=l). Eight patients were men, five patients were women. Most of them were 4rd and 5th decade. The tumors arose in the lower(7 patients) and middle(6 patients) thirds of the esophagus. Eleven patients underwent a thoracotomy; the remainder were resected using VATS. All of patients underwent simple enucleation. There were no complications and recurrences after surgery. Conclusion: We present our experience with enucleation of these 12 leiomyomas and one GIST for 10 years.

Background and Objectives: Foreign bodies of upper aerodigestive tract are common problem for primary care physicians. Delayed diagnosis or failure of removal might cause fatal problemsand complications. Therefore proper diagnosis and management is imperative. In this study, we described clinical features of upper aerodigestive tract foreign body, and analyzed efficacy of different management modality. Materials and Methods: 250 cases of foreign bodies in the esophagus and trachea, between Jan. 1998 through Jan. 2009 has been retrospectively analyzed. A total of 24 cases and 226 cases had been found each as airway foreign bodies and esophageal foreign bodies. The clinical features are described and treatment outcomes, prognosis, and rate of complications of each management modality have been compared. Results: In airway foreign bodies, ventilating bronchoscopy yielded better results, 19 success out of 19 trials than fiberoptic bronchoscopy, 3 success out of 5 trials. Hospitalization days after removal of foreign body didn't show difference between two treatment modalities, although patients who had ventilating bronchoscopy had gone through general anesthesia. And there was no complication after removal of foreign body. In esophageal foreign bodies, rigid esophagoscope yielded better results, 99% of successful removal rate, compared to the EGD, only 78% of successful removal rate. There was no difference of hospitalization days between two modalities. And complication rate was even low in patients who had done rigid esophagoscopic foreign body removal. Conclusion: In upper aerodigestivetract foreign body. Rapid diagnosis and successful foreign body removal is important. Removal by rigid scope(ventilating bronchoscope, rigid esophagoscope) revealed less failure in both airway and esophageal foreign bodies.

Background: Surgical treatment of corrosive esophageal stricture with colon interposition was very widely used. The colon interposition advantage is low reflux esophagitis risk and preservation of gastric capacity and peristalsis. This procedure was introduced by Orsoni and much improved. But, if stomach injury was minimal, gastric interposition is useful due to simple technique and low complication. Material and Method: Esophageal reconstruction by the transhiatal esophagectomy and intracervical esophagogastrostomy was done in 7 patients of corrosive esophageal stricture at Dong-San medical center from January 1998 to December 2007. Result: There were six female and one male patients raBackground Surgical treatment of corrosive esophageal stricture with colon interposition was very widely used. The colon interposition advantage is low reflux esophagitis risk and preservation of gastric capacity and peristalsis. This procedure was introduced by Orsoni and much improved. But, if stomach injury was minimal, gastric interposition is useful due to simple technique and low complication. Material and Method: Esophageal reconstruction by the transhiatal esophagectomy and intracervical esophagogastrostomy was done in 7 patients of corrosive esophageal stricture at Dong-San medical center from January 1998 to December 2007. Result: There were six female and one male patients ranging from 29 to 69 years of age. The complication was two anastomosis site leakage, one gastric necrosis and one mortality due to bowel strangulation and sepsis. Conclusion: Transhiatal esophagectomy and intracervical esophagogastrostomy is safety and useful method at selection case even though corrosive esophageal resection is debated.

Background and Objectives : Proton pump inhibitors(PPIs) improve the symptoms of laryngopharyngeal reflux(LPR). But there is little reports about the changes of each items in reflux symptom index (RSI) and reflux finding score (RFS) after PPIstreatment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the changes of pre- and post-treatment score in each RSI and RFS items after 8 weeks medication with proton pump inhibitors in laryngopharyngeal reflux patients. Methods : Prospective study. Among the patients who had visited the department of otolaryngology from January 2007 to December 2008, 91 patients who had shown scores greater than 13 on the RSI and/or 7 on the RFS were studied. All patients received PPIs once daily before breakfast for 8 weeks. RSI and RFS were assessed at initial, four weeks and eight weeks after medication. Result: All RSI items were improved (p < 0.05). The globus sense followed by throat clearing, heartburns and hoarseness showed high initial RSI score than other items. And globus sense, throat clearing, hoarseness and heartburn were improved significantly more than others items. But only posterior commissure hypertrophy of RFS was improved significantly more than others items. Conclusion: Empiric PPIs therapy reduced the RSI scores and more effective for symptoms such as globus sense, throat clearing, hoarseness and heartburn among suspected LPR patients. In RFS, only posterior commissure hypertrophy has improved significantly. However, the changes of each categories of RFS were minimal (average: 0.16), therefore clinical significance is restricted in RFS.

Objectives: Endoscopic airway dilatation and stenting has been developed to treat the airway stenosis without potential morbidities of open surgery. We report the clinical results of endoscopic airway dilatation with silicone stenting in patients with posttuberculous bronchial stenosis(PTBS) and with severe main tracheal stenosis who have poor general conditions Methods : A prospective observation study of five patients, who have undergone endoscopic airway dilatation and silicone stenting between Feb 2007 and Feb 2009. A total of twelve patients were treated with endoscopic airway dilatation, among them 5 patients were included in this study. three patients were treated with newly designed silicone stent (Natural stent: TNO Co., Seoul, South Korea) because of poor surgical conditions and longer stenotic segment Results: 3 patients were grade III PTBS, and the other 2 patients were grade IV post tracheotomy main tracheal stenosis. One patient of PTBS were treated with silicone stent following endoscopic dilatation because of longer stenotic segment. Two patients of main tracheal stenosis patients were treated with silicone stent because of tracheal lumen collapse. There was no severe postoperative complications except mild granulation tissue formations Conclusions : Endoscopic dilatation including silicone stenting could be a useful method for treating patients with PTBS, and for main tracheal stenosis patients with poor general surgical conditions

Tracheal rupture is infrequently reported, but it is considered to be fatal condition. The most common cause of tracheal rupture is neck injury, but, rarely reported after tracheal intubation. We report a 49-year old woman with dyspnea presenting tracheal rupture after endotracheal intubation. It is detected that tracheal rupture with herniation of esophagus at the level of T1 spine by computed tomography and bronchoscopy. We had a successful repair by suturing between tracheal and esophageal wall. The patient was followed up without any complication.

The photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new treatment modality of destroying malignant tumors and pre-malignant lesions based on the use of photodynamical damage to tumor cells under the photochemical reactions. But the clinical reports of photodynamic application on the benign tumor of the internal organs were extremely rare. So we decribed our experience of one case of benign tracheal tumor successfully treated by PDT.

Paratracheal air cysts are rare lesions and detected incidentally during CT scan or autopsy. Histopathologic diagnoses of paratracheal air cysts include trachocele, tracheal diverticulum and lymphoepithelial cyst. The cysts are lined by ciliated columnar epithelium and have communication with trachea. Previous reports suggested an association with obstructive lung disease because of increased expiratory pressures in these patients. Most of these cysts are asymptomatic but rarely cause productive cough, wheezing, recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis and difficult intubation. We report a case of paratracheal air cyst causing dyspnea with a review of literature.