SPASM OF THE (ESOPHAGUS. CESOPHAGISMUS. 



Causes : nervous disorders or lesions, pharyngeal, cesophagean, or gastric 

 disease, cesophagean parasites, choking, tumors, ulcers, cold drinks. Symp- 

 toms : extended drooping head, working jaws, frothing, pawing, attempts 

 at swallowing, alkaline regurgitation, cries, rigid gullet, tenderness. May 

 be paroxysmal with intervening dullness. Treatment : by sound ; by re- 

 moval of obstruction ; by antispasmodics. Embrocations. Tonics. 



Causes. This has been noticed as a concomitant of certain 

 diseases of the nervous centres, such as rabies, tetanus, or 

 epilepsy, and those of the pharynx or stomach. Cadeac has seen 

 it in connection with stricture, and the present writer has ob- 

 served it as a result of larvae of cestri hooked on to the mucosa 

 above the cardia. It is an important factor in most cases of 

 choking, and may depend on tumors, ulcers, or even cold 

 beverages. Animals with a specially nervous organization are 

 particularly subject to it and it may thus be an hereditary family 

 trait. It has been especially noticed in solipeds and calves. 



Symptoms. A feeding animal suddenly ceases to eat, extends 

 the head on the neck, drops the nose toward the ground, moves 

 the jaws constantly, froths at the mouth or lets the saliva drivel 

 to the ground, moves the fore feet uneasily pushing the litter 

 under the belly, makes efforts at deglutition during which, waves 

 may be seen to descend along the jugular furrow, followed by 

 regurgitation and discharge of the liquid as by emesis. The act 

 is often followed by a slight cry. Manipulations of the left 

 jugular furrow detects the gullet as a firm, rigid cord, unless 

 when liquids are passing as above, and auscultation reveals a 

 rattling or gurgling noise as if in jerks. Pressure on the gullet 

 is often very painful, increasing the spasm and rigidity, and 

 causing the animal to cry out. Wheezing breathing may attend 

 the discharge of saliva through the nose, and violent paroxysms 

 of coughing may be caused by the entrance of this liquid into 

 the larynx. 



In the majority of cases no food is swallowed and nothing but 



saliva is disgorged, which together with the absence of an acid 



odor distinguishes this from true vomiting. In an exceptional case 



of the author's, occurring in a colt, the animal continued to mas- 



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