Accessory Nerve Paresis as a Complication of Foreign Body

Introduction: Pharynx and larynx represents 13.2 and 0.3%, respectively, as a site of foreign body, in upper aerodigestive tract. Complications in these cases are rare, and generally courses with dysphagia and dyspnea.

Objectives: This article aims to report postoperative atypical presentation of a patient with cervical foreign body.

Resumed Report: This is a case of a male patient, 64-year-old, who developed paralysis of the accessory nerve in postoperative of a neck foreign body removal. The fish bone was swallowed 15 days before arrival in our service with pain and neck mass.

Conclusion: It is described in the literature a high frequency of foreign bodies in the upper aerodigestive tract. Despite the changes in both diagnostic techniques, as well as specialty materials for their removal, mostly outpatients, it is not uncommon to find complications of foreign bodies, as in the case reported, in which the removal in the operating room is needed. The clinical history should be a guide in search of a diagnosis. Additional tests, which allow visualization of anatomic relationships, can achieve a more careful surgical planning. The type of supplementary examination to be used must be defined in each case depending on the location, type, and symptoms that the foreign body is causing. Computed tomography, cervical ultrasonography, endoscopy, and fibronasolaryngoscopy are examples of these examinations.