[Acute oesophageal obstruction from food or mucilage: a report on 15 cases (author's transl)]

The authors review 15 cases of acute oesophageal obstruction arising from food (meat) or mucilage (3 cases). Obstruction was usually observed in the lower third of the oesophagus whereas in cases with stenosis due to caustic agents (2 cases), or tuberculosis (1 case), the middle third was affected. The obstruction is mainly related to the presence of a dyskinesia with or without an associated hiatus hernia. A transient isolated spasm of the lower oesophageal sphincter was present in three cases (20%). Urgent radiological examinations are essential for diagnostic and therapeutic reasons. An intravenous injection of glucagon must be given systematically and the patency of the oesophagus checked immediately afterwards. One patient was found to have two perforations of the oesophagus at different levels and these were thought to be due to different reasons. That in the cervical region was caused by a swallowed bone, the other was the probable consequence of the fibroscopic examination.