Radiologic Examination of the Orohypopharynx and Esophagus: The Barium Swallow

The esophagus, ostensibly a simple tubular structure whose functional role often is minimized and even ignored, is, in re ality, a highly complex viscus. The problems associated with disorders of the esophagus are not only related to the usual en tities which may be anticipated in any portion of the gastroin testinal tract, but include in a major fashion the functional mechanisms indigenous to the pharyngoesophageal and eso phagogastric junctions. A number of disorders, representative of the classical cate gories of disease, affect the esophagus. These include the various congenital and developmental abnormalities, of which some are complex. Trauma to the esophagus is not un common, and infective and inflammatory lesions of this struc ture are encountered relatively frequently. The different types of neoplasms of the esophagus are relatively few in number, but are commonly observed-the most serious, from the point of view of survival, being carcinoma. The collagen disorders, particularly scleroderma and dermatomyositis, affect the eso phagus all too often. A miscellaneous group includes such en tities as achalasia and varices, occurring in varying degrees of frequency. Functional abnormalities of the oropharynx, hypo pharynx and esophagus, particularly relating to swallowing and the frequently encountered instances of spasm of the pharyngoesophageal and the esophagogastric junctions, consti tute an important and common source of difficulty in the pa tient population at large. In this regard, anatomic, radiologic, and physiologic studies of these structures have provided through the years vital data which has proved of considerable VII . . .