限局性浮腫性食道炎に就て

　緒言

　食道異物感を訴えて耳鼻科医を訪れる患者は可成多い．殊に40歳以上で癌の発生し易い年齢の者は食道癌の初期ではないかとの心配の爲に内科医或は耳鼻科医を轉々として歩くものである．

　此樣な患者の訴えは食道入口部より，胸骨上縁位迄が殆んどで，中部或は下部に訴える者は殆んどない．從來も述べられている喉頭或は咽頭の訴えとは別個のもので，患者によく問診すればわかる．

Yoshio finds that by resorting to endoscopic examination of esophagus on two patients (fe. male 48 and male 60 years old), the both of whom complaining of sensations of foriegn body lodged in the esophagus, there were changes in the mucous membrane lining of this organ for a distance of a few centmeters in its beginning portions. From gross appearance the walls were swollen in blotches of different proportions, the color of which was definitely ischemic as com-pared to other areas that were normal. Micro-scopically, outstanding changes presented in the tissues were submucous edema, engorgement of lymphatic vessels and veins, and dilatation of ducts of mucous glands with small amount of round cell infiltration in general. At present the trend in diagnosis of patients of similar compla-ints they are often referred to psychotherapy or hormone therapy without proper investigati-ons into possible etiology of the disease. The author concludes with a question whether the findings presented here would not constitute an independant disease entity that might he consi-dered as to justify the cause of complaints.