Conservative treatment of exposed implant following anterior cervical instrumentation surgery - A case report and review of literature.

ABSTRACT

We report a case of traumatic C3-C4 disc prolapse in a 58 years old male, who underwent ACDF at our centre. On the third post-operative day, a hypopharyngeal rent with implant exposure was discovered. The patient suffered aspiration pneumonitis. He was tracheostomised and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding was started. He was managed conservatively with appropriate antibiotics and physiotherapy. He recovered and after 6 months the PEG was removed and oral feeding resumed. He was doing well 42 months after the initial surgery.