[Esophageal dysphagia]

Dysphagia can be caused by a number of disorders such as benign or malignant obstruction of the esophagus, inflammatory alterations of the mucosa or primary esophageal motility disorders. Endoscopic evaluation is recommended for all patients to exclude malignancy and to establish or confirm a diagnosis. This article provides an overview of the most frequent inflammatory and functional esophageal disorders causing dysphagia. Clinical findings, diagnostic procedures and therapeutic management of primary esophageal motility disorders such as achalasia and diffuse esophageal spasm as well as of GERD and eosinophilic esophagitis are discussed. The diagnosis of achalasia is made by barium swallow with fluoroscopy and by manometry. Therapeutic options for achalasia are pneumatic dilatation of the esophagogastric junction, laparoscopic cardiomyotomy combined with fundoplication and botulinum toxin injection of the lower esophageal sphincter Diffuse esophageal spasm is manometrically characterized by normal peristalsis intermittently interrupted by simultaneous contractions. Potential medical therapies are PPIs for underlying GERD, smooth-muscle relaxants and antidepressant medications. GERD is a multifaceted disease caused by abnormal reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus leading to chronic symptoms or mucosal damage. Therapy includes lifestyle modifications, acid suppressive medications mainly by PPI and laparoscopic fundoplication in selected patients. Eosinophilic esophagitis is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the esophagus diagnosed histologically. The main symptom of eosinophilic esophagitis is dysphagia for solid food with imminent risk of food impaction. Systemic or topical corticosteroids are the therapy of choice.