Search

Shinsuke Yahata,1,2 Tsuneaki Kenzaka,1 Saeko Kushida,3 Hogara Nishisaki,2 Hozuka Akita2 1Division of Community Medicine and Career Development, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, 2Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo Prefectural Kaibara Hospital, Tamba, 3Department of Gastroenterological Oncology, Hyogo Cancer Center, Akashi, Japan Introduction: Various causes of intractable hiccups have been reported; however, to the best of our knowledge, there are no previous reports of either intractable hiccups due to esophageal candidiasis in an immunocompetent adult or improvement following antifungal therapy. Case presentation: An 87-year-old man presented with intractable hiccups. Although the patient was immunocompetent, he used proton pump inhibitors. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed several white deposits throughout the esophagus and extensive white deposits in the midesophageal diverticulum. A mucosal culture showed candidiasis, which was suspected to be the cause of the intractable hiccups. After oral fluconazole had been prescribed, the candidiasis resolved and the hiccups improved. Therefore, we concluded that esophageal diverticular candidiasis was the cause of his intractable hiccups. Conclusion: Physicians should consider esophageal candidiasis as one of the differential diagnoses for intractable hiccups, even in immunocompetent adults. Keywords: Intractable hiccups, candidiasis, esophageal diverticulum, immunocompetence, elderly, acid-suppression therapy