SPASM OF THE (ESOPHAGUS. CESOPHAGISMUS. 



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

 disease, oesophagean 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 sovind ; by re- 

 moval of obstruction ; by antispasmodics. Embrocations. Tonics. 



Causes. Thi.s lias 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 chok- 

 ing, 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 cmesis. The act 

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

 ular 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 dis- 

 charge 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 di.sgorged, which together with the absence of an 



acid odor distinguishes this from true vomiting. In an exceptional 



ca.se of the author's, occurring in a colt, the animal continued to nias- 



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