Diffuse Esophageal Spasm

Excerpt

Diffuse esophageal spasm (DES) is a rare esophageal motility disorder characterized by simultaneous, uncoordinated, or rapidly propagated contractions that are of normal amplitude and accompanied by dysphagia. It is defined manometrically as simultaneous contractions in the smooth muscle of the esophagus alternating with normal peristalsis in over 20% of wet swallows with amplitude contractions of greater than 30 mmHg. However, after the introduction of high-resolution esophageal pressure topography, the defining criteria for DES has been changed, and is the presence of at least two premature contractions with a distal latency of under 4.5 seconds in a context of normal esophagogastric junction relaxation.