Minimally invasive approach for retrieval of retropharyngeal foreign body

Ingested fish bone at times can migrate extraluminally into the surrounding soft tissue, leading to complications. Conventionally, these migrated fish bones are retrieved by open procedures, which could add to the morbidity. We successfully retrieved one such foreign body by a minimally invasive transcervical approach in a 64-year-old female patient. The method offered an easy identification of the foreign body with minimal soft-tissue dissection, which ultimately aided in the early post-operative recovery. This is the first report of a minimally invasive approach to explore the retropharyngeal space, and we propose the technique even for sampling retropharyngeal lymph node.