Radiology of the Nutcracker Esophagus

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Abstract
We prospectively evaluated 22 patients with manometrically proven “nutcracker esophagus” (high amplitude peristaltic contractions). All patients were symptomatic with angina-like chest pain, dysphagia, or both. Patients underwent barium esophagram with video-recording of the images. Video tapes were reviewed independently by a gastrointestinal radiologist who was unaware of the patients' manometric diagnoses. The video-esophagram was normal in 12 of 22 (55%) patients. Eight of 22 (36%) had dysmotility: either diffuse spasm (9%) or tertiary contractions (27%) (Fig. 2). A hiatal hernia was the only abnormality in two patients. Although the presence of diffuse spasm or tertiary contractions may suggest the presence of the underlying motor disorder in patients with nutcracker esophagus, we conclude that the “barium swallow” lacks sufficient sensitivity to screen adequately for this disorder in patients with atypical angina or dysphagia.

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