ATORTILLA is "a thin flat unleavened cake, as of maize, baked on a heated iron or stone."1 This flat dough is rolled about a center of spiced ground meat. The preparation is a fairly common article of diet in the southwest region of the United States. That it could cause esophageal obstruction is almost incredible. A case in which a tortilla caused complete occlusion of the lumen of the esophagus is therefore reported.
REPORT OF A CASE
A 47 year old white man was admitted to the Tucson, Ariz., Veterans' Administration Facility at 3 p. m., Oct. 15, 1942. He complained of inability to swallow and of dyspnea. He was rather emotionally unstable, and the history was not easy to elicit. Twenty minutes prior to admission, while eating a tortilla, he felt some of it "stick" in his throat. Thereafter he was unable to swallow anything, even water. He complained