ESOPHAGUS, STOMACH AND HEART FOLLOWING UNILATERAL PHRENICECTOMY

Abstract

That phrenicectomy has a place in the treatment for certain diseases of the lungs would appear to be a more or less accepted fact. In the past, practically all observations in this connection have dealt with the immediate or remote effects of phrenicectomy on a diseased portion of the lung and on the lung as a whole; and justly so, for this is undoubtedly the chief consideration.We observed gastro-intestinal symptoms in a few patients following phrenicectomy. In one instance the so-called condition of "cardiospasm" supposedly developed following this procedure. We therefore deemed it advisable to study the relationship of the diaphragm to the esophagus both before and after phrenicectomy. The occurrence of certain cardiac symptoms in some of these patients following phrenicectomy also led us to make electrocardiograms before and after the operation.We have divided our paper into three parts, the first dealing with changes in the esophagus