Mackler's triad

Last revised by Henry Knipe on 28 Jan 2022

Mackler's triad consists of the clinical symptoms of vomiting, followed by severe pain in the chest, usually retrosternal, lower thoracic, and upper abdominal, associated with subcutaneous emphysema detected on physical examination, which is suggestive of esophageal rupture (Boerhaave syndrome) 1-7

History and etymology

Saul Allen Mackler (1913-2007), an American surgeon, described this eponymous finding in a paper in 1952 1,7.

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