The association of esophageal hiatus hernia with Mallory-Weiss syndrome.

The incidence of esophageal hiatus hernia in Mallory-Weiss syndrome was analyzed from endoscopic findings in order to clarify the association with Mallory-Weiss syndrome. Hiatus hernia was diagnosed from findings of both esophagoscopy and gastroscopy. In 23 patients with Mallory-Weiss syndrome confirmed by endoscopy, hiatus hernia was found 21 cases (91.3%), in which 9 (39.1%) were definite hernias and 12 (52.2%) were minor hernias. In 80 control cases of various gastrointestinal diseases, definite hernia was found in 7 cases (8.8%), and minor hernia was found in 13 cases (16.2%). The incidence of hiatus hernia in Mallory-Weiss syndrome was thus significantly higher than that in the control group. The incidence of hiatus hernia evaluated only by esophageal findings was lower than that evaluated by combined findings from the gastric and esophageal directions. These results indicate that evaluation from the gastric direction is an essential procedure for the diagnosis of esophageal hiatus hernia and that hiatus hernia is one of the predisposing factors for the development of Mallory-Weiss syndrome.