A report on Dysphagia, Esophageal cancer, Esophagus and Esophageal achalasia

Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach.

Esophageal achalasia, often referred to simply as achalasia, is a failure of smooth muscle fibers to relax, which can cause the lower esophageal sphincter to remain closed.

Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss.

Achalasia is characterized by difficulty in swallowing, regurgitation, and sometimes chest pain.

The esophagus may be affected by gastric reflux, cancer, prominent dilated blood vessels called varices that can bleed heavily, tears, constrictions, and disorders of motility.

Diseases may cause difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), painful swallowing (odynophagia), chest pain, or cause no symptoms at all.

However, a small proportion occurs secondary to other conditions, such as esophageal cancer, Chagas disease (an infectious disease common in South America) or Triple-A syndrome.

Achalasia is a major exception to usual pattern of dysphagia in that swallowing of fluid tends to cause more difficulty than swallowing solids.

In achalasia, there is idiopathic destruction of parasympathetic ganglia of the Auerbach's (Myenteric) plexus of the entire esophagus, which results in functional narrowing of the lower esophagus, and peristaltic failure throughout its length.

Esophageal cancer

Achalasia (i.e. lack of the involuntary reflex in the esophagus after swallowing) appears to be a risk factor for both main types of esophageal cancer, at least in men, due to stagnation of trapped food and drink.

Achalasia refers to a failure of the lower esophageal sphincter to relax properly, and generally develops later in life.