Endoscopic study on esophageal ulcers of the upper and middle esophagus

Abstract

Thirty one cases (male: 15, female: 16) of the upper and middle third esophageal ulcers were investigated. The average age was 42.1 years, which was younger than that of the lower esophageal ulcers (58.5 years). The causes of the ulcers were drug administration (12 cases), foreign bodies (2 cases), radiation (1 case), food (1 case), lichen planus (1 case) and unknown (14 cases). A majority of initial symptoms were retrosternal pain, disturbance of passage and odynophagia. Endoscopic findings of the disease were divided into 3 types: the irregular type, round type and exfoliation type. Most of the ulcers were the irregular or the round type. There were only 4 cases of the exfoliation type. The exfoliation type improved earlier than the other two types on the endoscopic findings and symptoms. This is because the ulcer lesions of the exfoliation type were superficial. The literatures on exfoliative esophagitis were also reviewed. © 1992, Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society. All rights reserved.