ANATOMIC FEATURES OF THE CARDIAC ORIFICE OF THE STOMACH

Abstract

The clinical problems which concern the lower end of the esophagus and the cardiac orifice of the stomach are basically anatomic problems. The occurrence and nature of esophageal varices depend on the venous supply and the anastomoses across the cardia, as has been demonstrated by Kegaries.¹The study of peptic ulcer of the esophagus raises the question of the competence of the sphincteric action of the cardia in preventing the regurgitation of gastric juice and also the question of the occurrence of islands of gastric mucosa in the esophagus. Carcinoma of the cardia and the lower extremity of the esophagus also is of extreme anatomic interest. The peculiar glandular epithelium which is present at the cardia might be expected to give rise to neoplasms which have different properties from those of neoplasms which originate elsewhere in the stomach and esophagus. Moreover, the metastasis of a carcinoma at the cardia