ESOPHAGOLOGY is a term relatively recently introduced into medical nomenclature. It implies the existence of a medical specialty devoted to a study of the anatomy, the physiology and the pathology of the esophagus. The many aspects of these studies, the influence of related medical advances in other fields and the progress in the diagnosis and the management of diseases of the esophagus have justified the implications of the new term. Progress has been apparent in two ways: first, in the changing concept of esophageal diseases, and, second, in the more successful management of these diseases, the prognosis of which heretofore had been considered hopeless.
In many respects the progress in esophagology has been directly dependent on and parallel to the progress in esophagoscopy. Anesthesia, electrically illuminated esophagoscopes, standardized technics and radiologic guidance have all been outstanding steps in the development and the advancement of endoscopic procedure. In this regard it