Bronchoesophagology: Summaries of the Bibliographic Material Available for 1957

Abstract

In 1957 bronchoscopy was used chiefly in the diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma and in the treatment of postsurgical complications. Esophagoscopy became firmly established in the diagnosis of esophageal disease with or without positive roentgen findings, as evidenced by its increasing use in hiatal hernia. Fundamental studies of pulmonary function, esophageal motility, and esophagogastric sphincteric mechanism received more attention, and basic research in the latter helped to clarify some of the controversial points regarding the hiatal sphincter. <h3>Experimental Studies</h3> Hilding¹studied the ciliary activity of the lower respiratory tract in humans and animals. Ciliary activity was found to continue many hours after death in humans, while the mucous blanket behaved less dependably. The flow of the ciliary stream in the bronchial tree of man was found to be generally upward against gravity and was very wide but rapidly narrowed as it approached the trachea. The velocity of ciliary flow was