2024 Volume 66 Issue 4 Pages 403-410
A 72-year-old male complained of epigastric pain and heartburn one year after beginning to use dabigatran. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed exfoliative esophagitis with white membrane-like deposits in the middle and lower esophagus. We diagnosed the patient with dabigatran-induced esophagitis (DIE). Two months after discontinuation of dabigatran, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed that the esophagitis had resolved, revealing advanced esophageal cancer of three-quarter circumference in the lower esophagus. This observation suggests that DIE was induced by dabigatran retention due to esophageal cancer.
Few case reports associate DIE with esophageal cancer. We thus consider this case to provide a valuable insight into the mechanism of DIE, and report it here along with a literature review. In case of DIE, it is important to perform endoscopic examination with attention to esophageal cancer and other findings that may cause obstruction.
