A wide spectrum of variations can occur in esophageal atresia because of the complexity of tracheoesophageal development. We herein described a 0-day-old boy with type IIIb6 esophageal atresia. Esophagography revealed a long overlapping upper pouch that was similar to esophageal stenosis. Gastrostomy is useful for the therapeutic diagnosis of such a case.

We examined whether serum protein profiling is a reliable index for prediction of therapeutic efficacy of preoperative chemoradiotherapy (PCRT) in advanced esophageal cancer compared with evaluation of the efficacy of conventional clinical examination. We entered 42 patients who received PCRT and surgery between 1998 and 2002 into this study. Serum protein profiling was performed using the preo...

Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis is a rare condition of unknown etiology originally described in 1960. It is characterized by multiple, flask-shaped outpouchings of pinhead size in the wall of the esophagus. Very small outpouchings on endoscopy and tiny collections of barium outside of the esophagus wall on esophagography are typical diagnostic findings. During the era of widespread e...

Esophageal fistulas in the cervical region are usually difficult to manage and carry a high morbidity. We report a case of an esophago-colonic fistula after colonic interposition, successfully managed with vacuum-assisted closure 'V.A.C. system', (Kinetic Concepts Inc., San Antonio, TX, USA). The patient initially presented with purulent fluid from the cervical wound 13 days after surgery. Esop...

Pneumatic dilation (PD) is an effective treatment for achalasia cardia. Outcome of PD, however, varies among different studies. Recently, some groups started considering laparoscopic myotomy to be competitive to PD in treatment of achalasia considering dreaded complication like perforation following the latter therapeutic approach. Therefore, there is need to predict outcome of PD for achalasia...

gastric emptying, which increases intragastric pressure and TLESR.4,7 Recently, there has been interest in a possible genetic basis for GERD. There has been concordance of GERD symptoms described in monozygotic twins. Family clustering of Barrett’s esophagus and erosive esophagitis has been reported.7 Understandably, infants and children with underlying physical disorders will be more predispos...

BACKGROUND Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a very prevalent disorder. Medical therapy improves symptoms in some but not all patients. Antireflux surgery is an excellent option for patients with persistent symptoms such as regurgitation, as well as for those with complete symptomatic resolution on acid-suppressive therapy. However, proper patient selection is critical to achieve excell...

Figure 1. Radiograph of left-sided pneumo-hydrothorax, where the black arrowhead indicates the hydrothorax and the white arrow indicates the pneumothorax. A 66-year-old Caucasian male with no past medical history presented to the emergency department (ED) complaining of severe retrosternal pain, which began immediately prior to arrival following an episode of vomiting. The patient had symptoms ...

Here, we report a case with intraluminal membrane (web) located in the lower esophagus causing complete obstruction. Esophagogram revealed complete obstruction near the esophagogastric junction. Surgical excision of the esophageal membrane was performed. To our knowledge, only a few cases with membranous esophageal atresia have been reported. It must be remembered in neonates who cannot tolerat...

The following includes commentaries on clinical features and imaging of Barrett's esophagus (BE); the clinical factors that influence the development of BE; the influence of body fat distribution and central obesity; the role of adipocytokines and proinflammatory markers in carcinogenesis; the role of body mass index (BMI) in healing of Barrett's epithelium; the role of surgery in prevention of...