Specular Esophagoscopy.—Inspection of the hypopharynx and upper esophagus is readily made with the esophageal speculum shown in Fig. 4. High lesions and foreign bodies lodged behind the larynx are thus discovered with ease, and such a condition as a retropharyngeal abscess which has burrowed downward is much less apt to be overlooked than with the esophagoscope. High strictures of the esophagus may be exposed and treated by direct visual bouginage until the lumen is sufficiently dilated to allow the passage of the esophagoscope for bouginage of the deeper strictures.
Technic of Specular Esophagoscopy.—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.
Complications Following Esophagoscopy.—These are to be avoided in large measure by the exercise of gentleness, care, and skill that are acquired by practice. If the instructions herein given are followed, esophagoscopy is absolutely without mortality apart from the conditions for which it is done.
Injury to the crico-arytenoid joint may simulate recurrent paralysis. Posticus paralysis may occur from recurrent or vagal pressure by a misdirected esophagoscope. These conditions usually recover but may persist. Perforation of the esophageal wall may cause death from septic mediastinitis. The pleura may be entered,—pyopneumothorax will result and demand immediate thoracotomy and gastrostomy. Aneurysm of the aorta may be ruptured. Patients with tuberculosis, decompensating cardiovascular lesions, or other advanced organic disease, may have serious complications precipitated by esophagoscopy.
Retrograde Esophagoscopy.—The first step is to get rid of the gastric secretions. There is always fluid in the stomach, and this keeps pouring out of the tube in a steady stream. Fold after fold is emptied of fluid. Once the stomach is empty, the search begins for the cardial opening. The best landmark is a mark with a dermal pencil on the skin at a point corresponding to the level of the hiatus esophageus. When it is desired to do a retrograde esophagoscopy and the gastrostomy is done for this special purpose, it is wise to have it very high. Once the cardia is located and the esophagus entered, the remainder of the work is very easy. Bouginage can be carried out from below the same as from above and may be of advantage in some cases. Strictural lumina are much more apt to be concentric as approached from below because there has been no distortion by pressure dilatation due to stagnation of the food operating through a long period of time. At retrograde esophagoscopy there seems to be no abdominal esophagus and no cardia. The esophagoscope encounters only the diaphragmatic pinchcock which seems to be at the top of the stomach like the puckering string at the top of a bag.
Retrograde esophagoscopy is sometimes useful for "stringing" the esophagus in cases in which the patient is unable to swallow a string because he is too young or because of an epithelial scaling over of the upper entrance of the stricture. In such cases the smallest size of the author's filiform bougies (Fig. 40) is inserted through the retrograde esophagoscope (Fig. 43) and insinuated upward through the stricture. When the tip reaches the pharynx coughing, choking and gagging are noticed. The filiform end is brought out the mouth sufficiently far to attach a silk braided cord which is then pulled down and out of the gastrostomic opening. The braided silk "string" must be long enough so that the oral and the abdominal ends can be tied together to make it "endless;" but before doing so the oral end should be drawn through nose where it will be less annoying than in the mouth. The purpose of the "string" is to pull up the retrograde bougies (Fig. 35)
[117] CHAPTER XI—ACQUIRING SKILL
Endoscopic ability cannot be bought with the instruments. As with all mechanical procedures, facility can be obtained only by educating the eye and the fingers in repeated exercise of a particular series of maneuvers. As with learning to play a musical instrument, a fundamental knowledge of technic, positions, and landmarks is necessary, after which only continued manual practice makes for proficiency. For instance, efficient use of forceps requires that they be so familiar to the grasp that their use is automatic. Endoscopy is a purely manual procedure, hence to know how is not enough: manual practice is necessary. Even in the handling of the electrical equipment, practice in quickly locating trouble is as essential as theoretic knowledge. There is no mystery about electric lighting. No source of illumination other than electricity is possible for endoscopy. Therefore a small amount of electrical knowledge, rendered practical by practice, is essential to maintain the simple lighting system in working order. It is an insult to the intelligence of the physician to say that he cannot master a simple problem of electric testing involving the locating of one or more of five possibilities. It is simply a matter of memorizing five tests. It is repeated for emphasis that a commercial current reduced by means of a rheostat should never be used as a source of current for endoscopy with any kind of instrument, because of the danger to the patient of a possible "grounding" of the circuit during the extensive moist contact of a metallic endoscopic tube in the mediastinum. The battery shown in Fig. 8 should be used. The most frequent cause of trouble is the mistake of over-illuminating the lamps. The lamp should not be over-illuminated to the dazzling whiteness usually used in flash lights. Excessive illumination alters the proper perception of the coloring of the mucosa, besides shortening the life of the lamps. The proper degree of brightness is obtained when, as the current is increased, the first change from yellow to white light is obtained. Never turn up the rheostat without watching the lamp.
Testing for Electric Defects.—These tests should be made beforehand; not when about to commence introduction.
If the first lamp lights up properly, use it with its light-carrier to test out the other cords.