Descending mediastinitis.

We studied 13 patients with mediastinal abscesses caused by oropharyngeal infections, who presented between April 2007 and June 2011. All patients were operated on after maxillofacial and ear, nose and throat surgeons had treated the primary source and drained all collections in the neck. Thoracic surgery was performed in the same session.

Tracheal replacement with an aortic homograft.

We report a case of acquired tracheoesophageal fistula, which was confounded by a long segment of necrotic trachea, requiring a desperate attempt at tracheal reconstruction using an aortic homograft. This is followed by a brief review of the literature in support of this useful technique of salvaging long-segment tracheal resection.