Oropharyngeal dysphagia as an uncommon manifestation of an osteoarticular disease

Abstract

We report a case of a 76-year-old Caucasian woman who was referred to our department due to progressive dysphagia. We performed a flexible nasofibrolaryngoscopy that demonstrated the presence of a non-pulsatile mass in the right posterior wall of the hypopharynx. Cervical CT scan revealed that the mass represented a bulging of the hypopharynx wall produced by osteophytes along the cervical segment (C3–C4 and C4–C5) of the rachis. The patient was successfully treated with conservative measures with progressive improvement of dysphagia. This case highlights that anterior cervical osteophytosis should be included in the differential diagnosis of oropharyngeal dysphagia.