Esophageal injury.

This review considers all possible modes of esophageal injury, based on a schema originally published in 1954 and more recently modified in 1970. For each category of injury there are detailed discussions of diagnosis and treatment. The best available knowledge of present-day modalities has been based on a survey of the literature for the past decade. When diverse methods of treatment were encountered, we have made comments consistent with our personal experience, when appropriate. The medicolegal literature contains a number of references to esophaegeal injury. Certain excerpts dealing with several types of potential actions are extracted: (1) suits to recover damages for esophageal perforation in which negligent endoscopy was claimed; (2) suits following endoscopic accidents in which lack of informed consent was claimed; and (3) suits for professional liability based on misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, or wrong treatment of esophaegeal perforation.