Cases (84) of cardiospasm were treated by brusque dilatation. The instrument (Starck dilator) and the procedure are described in detail. Eighty cases (95%) were clinically cured; 4 (5%) were not. The cure is usually permanent. Two forms of cardiospasm occur: in the majority of cases the point of obstruction lies slightly above the diaphragm, and a segment of several centimeters between this point and the true cardia is closed (the "vestibulum"). After the brusque dilatation of this segment the patient can swallow and feels cured, although food enters the stomach only by gravity. In the 2nd, very rare form the point of obstruction is the cardia itself. The theory of the purely psychogenic origin of cardiospams (advocated by the author in 1926) had to be abandoned. The overwhelming gratitude of the cured patient is a curious psychological phenomenon.