Acute esophageal necrosis (AEN), also known as "black esophagus," is an entity characterized by the circumferential black appearance of esophageal mucosa, usually associated with hypoperfusion and gastric outlet obstruction. This entity has a reported prevalence of up to 0.2%, affecting predominantly elderly men with multiple comorbidities. Most cases resolve with conservative treatment with no need of surgical intervention. However, the overall prognosis is poor, with mortality reaching one-third of cases due to the patient's underlying illness. In this article we present three cases of patients with AEN.

Ingestion of foreign bodies (FBs) is common and rarely has consequences for the patient, but sometimes it can originate gastrointestinal perforation and lead to devastating consequences if unrecognized. Therefore, whenever present, bowel perforation demands immediate surgical treatment. An 89-year-old woman with an incarcerated incisional hernia, whose imaging study was consistent with intestinal occlusion and perforation within the hernia sac was treated at our hospital. A segmental enterectomy and direct correction of the hernial defect were performed. A perforation in the mesenteric border due to a FB, which seemed to be a toothpick, was identified in the surgical specimen. Nine months after surgery, the patient was without complaints, with adequate healing, and without evidence of hernial recurrence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of intestinal perforation on an incarcerated incisional hernia, due to an ingested FB, reported in the literature.

Introduction: Breast cancer in young women is usually considered as breast cancer occurring in women younger than 40 years and is the most frequent cancer-related cause of death in these patients. In the past few years, there seems to be an increasing trend in the prevalence of breast cancer in young women, which, associated with poorer prognosis, more aggressive histologic features, and more frequent recurrence rates, makes it a rising threat to young women. This study aimed to evaluate the biological behavior of breast cancer in young women in our institution.Material and methods: A retrospective, unicentric, cohort study was conducted between 2012 and 2016. All consecutive patients with breast cancer were enrolled in the study. Cases were divided into two groups: case group, those younger than 40 years, and control group, those 40 years or older. The exclusion criterion was nonoperative treatment. Several clinical and pathologic parameters were evaluated, as well as were overall survival time and disease-free survival time.Results: The incidence of breast cancer in young women presented a rising tendency over the study period. Significant differences were observed in the comparison of the groups according to body mass index, age at menarche, age at birth of the first child, and proliferation rate. There were no differences in overall survival and disease-free survival rates between the groups.Conclusions: Young women had a more symptomatic presentation, a greater tumor proliferation rate, but similar outcomes compared with older patients. Greater multicentric studies are needed to confirm or refute these results.