Sandbox: achalasia

DD

GERD

Retrosternal burning chest pain. Cough and hoarseness of voice. May present with complications such as strictures and dysphagia.
Upper GI endoscopy shows the complications such as esophagitis and barret esophagus. Esophageal manometry may show decreased tone of the lower esophageal sphincter. 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring may be done to confirm the diagnosis.

Esophageal Cancer

• Dysphagia
• Odynophagia- fluids and soft foods are usually tolerated, while hard or bulky substances (such as bread or meat) cause much more difficulty
• Weight loss
• Pain, often of a burning nature, may be severe and worsened by swallowing, and can be spasmodic in character
• Nausea and vomiting

Upper GI endoscopy and bioEsophageal biopsy the gold standard for the diagnosis of esophageal

Nutcracker esophagus

• Retrosternal chest pain that presents with or without food.
• The condition is not progressive and not causing complications.

Barium swallow shows the characteristic corckscrew appearance of the esophagus.

Esophageal stricture

	Manifestations	Diagnostic tools
GERD	Retrosternal burning chest pain. Cough and hoarseness of voice. May present with complications such as strictures and dysphagia.	Upper GI endoscopy shows the complications such as esophagitis and barret esophagus. Esophageal manometry may show decreased tone of the lower esophageal sphincter. 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring may be done to confirm the diagnosis. Barret's esophagus - By Samir धर्म - taken from patient with permission to place in public domain, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1595945
Esophageal carcinoma	Dysphagia Odynophagia- fluids and soft foods are usually tolerated, while hard or bulky substances (such as bread or meat) cause much more difficulty Weight loss Pain, often of a burning nature, may be severe and worsened by swallowing, and can be spasmodic in character Nausea and vomiting	Upper GI endoscopy and esophageal biopsy the gold standard for the diagnosis of esophageal CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2587715
Corckscrew esophagus	Retrosternal chest pain that presents with or without food intake. The condition is not progressive and not causing complications.	Barium swallow shows the characteristic corckscrew appearance of the esophagus. Corckscrew esophagus - Case courtesy of Radswiki, Radiopaedia.org, rID: 11680
Esophageal stricture	Patient may present with the symptoms of the underlying GERD. Dysphagia and odynophagia.	Barium esophagography provides information about the site and the diameter of the stricture before the endoscopic intervention. Peptic stricture - By Samir धर्म - From en.wikipedia.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1931423