ESOPHAGEAL OBSTRUCTION

Abstract

The effect of complete stricture of the esophagus on life and nutrition has been the subject of but few investigations. Pavlov,1in 1895, first mentioned the use of an esophageal fistula in the study of psychic secretion in dogs. Our impression is that few of the earlier clinicians or physiologists believed that closure of the esophagus had any serious effect on health, though this belief, as far as we can find, was not the result of experimental investigation or of clinical experience. A few years ago Wangensteen and Chunn2and Haden and Orr3recorded rapid deaths in dogs following acute experimental closure of the esophagus. Andrus and Donnelly4more recently have again studied the question and have concluded that the loss of saliva may have played an important role in the lethal outcome of all their animal experiments. Chevalier Jackson,5who has had probably the