Two Cases of Foreign Body Ingestion that Required an Extracervical Incision

We report two cases of pharyngeal foreign bodies that necessitated extracervical incision. The first case involved a 59-year-old woman who experienced a foreign body sensation in her throat after ingesting fish. No foreign body was found by esophagoscopic nor laryngoscopic examination. A CT scan however, showed a fish bone located near the thyroid cartilage. The second case occurred in a 71-year-old man who had a hernia of the nucleus pulposus in his neck. A foreign body, which was believed to be a wire, was found on the CT scan prior to the hernia operation. The wire was emdeded in the retropharyngeal space. An extracervical incision was required in both cases to access areas that were not visible during laryngoscopic examination. These cases highlight the importance of performing a CT scan even if no foreign bodies are found during laryngoscopic examination.