Two cases of esophageal ulcer after surgical treatment for ulcerative colitis

The incidence of postoperative esophageal ulcers has been rarely reported associated with severe ulcerative colitis (UC). We report two cases of esophageal ulcers accompanied by acute necrotizing esophagitis after undergoing surgery for severe UC. Both patients, 47- and 53-year-old, were diagnosed with severe UC and underwent subtotal colectomy with sigmoid mucous fistula and ileostomy. In both cases, they had epigastralgia or digestive track bleeding and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed an esophageal ulcer with acute necrotizing esophagitis accompanied by a black degeneration of mucosa after surgery. Conservative treatments improved the lesions. Esophageal stricture requiring endoscopic dilatation occurred in both cases. An acute UC requiring surgery seems to warrant caution in the merger of esophageal ulcer and acute necrotizing esophagitis.