[Scintigraphy of the normal esophagus and a tumor lesion]

Esophageal scintigraphy with labeled liquid and solid food (water solution of radioactive colloid and mixture of egg with radioactive colloid coagulated by heating) was performed in 34 patients without a history of esophageal diseases permitting qualitative and quantitative characterization of normal motor evacuatory function of the esophagus and the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Altogether 46 patients with esophageal cancer and stomach cancer with esophageal involvement were investigated before therapy. In cancer of the esophagus its function failed with relation to a tumor site and was in direct proportion to a stage of tumor spreading. The method permitted the determination of the level of a pathological focus, a degree of esophageal permeability, quantification of a degree of esophageal dysfunction, the improvement of functional diagnosis of the esophagus and LES, and the determination of motor disorders at the earliest stages of tumor development.