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Technic Of Specular Esophagoscopy

Categories: INTRODUCTION OF THE ESOPHAGOSCOPE
Sources: A Manual Of Peroral Endoscopy And Laryngeal Surgery

Recumbent patient. Boyce

position. The larynx is to be exposed as in direct laryngoscopy, the

right pyriform sinus identified, the tip of the speculum inserted

therein, and gently insinuated to the cricopharyngeal constriction.

Too great extension of the head is to be avoided--even slight flexion

at the occipito-atloid joint may be found useful at times. Moderate

anterior or upward traction pulls the cricoid away from the posterior

pharyngeal wall and the lumen of the esophagus opens above a

crescentic fold (the cricopharyngeus). The speculum readily slides

over this fold and enters the cervical esophagus. In searching for

foreign bodies in the esophagus the speculum has the disadvantage of

limited length, so that should the foreign body move downward it could

not be followed.



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