[Potential use of radiation diagnosis of esophageal achalasia]

The prime objective of the paper is to attempt to reevaluate the potentialities of current radiation diagnosis of esophageal achalasia. Moreover, its main idea is to assess the procedure of a traditional X-ray section of radiation study. In the authors' opinion, the main motivation of writing this paper was the emergence of new recent potentialities of radiation diagnosis, including its traditional X-ray section in gastroenterological pathology, as well as a considerable body of information on esophageal achalasia (144 cases). The tasks to be solved in the paper include the differential diagnosis of esophageal achalasia and cardioesophageal cancer, as well as the basic capacities of radiation diagnosis to help clinicians in characterizing the changes caused by medical and surgical treatments for this disease. The authors consider that the obtained volume of necessary information on this abnormality rather frequently encountered in esophagogastroenterological pathology can be increased by applying the current possibilities of radiation study and mainly its traditional X-ray section.