Persons who experience difficulty in swallowing, may well be suffering from a diaphragmatic hernia.
And, unless proper treatment is inaugurated, hemmorhage, ulcer of the esophagus, or esophagus scarring may result, said Dr. E. Leonard Posey, Jackson, Miss., instructor of medicine at the University of Mississippi medical school.
Speaking between sessions of the regional meeting of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Posey said, "In time the inflamed esophagus could become so scarred, it would' be almost impossible for the patient to swallow."
"Food goes through a ring in the diaphragm," he added. "In cases of esophageal hiatus or diaphragmatic hernia, the ring becomes considerably relaxed, allowing a portion of the stomach to bulge through the ring. When this occurs, three things happen: A disturbance may be produced in the esophagus which interferes with swallowing. An inflamation may be produced which allows the1 stomach juices to regurgitate up into the, esophagus. Or pain, incidental to the mechanical presence of the hernia, may.result." PHOTO: AMONG THE SPEAKERS Friday at the regional meeting
of the American College of Physicians were (from left) Dr. J. Clyde Swartzwelder, professor of parasitology at the Lou-isiana State university medical school; Dr. John K. Snavely, Jackson, Miss., professor of medicine at tire University of Mississippi, and Dr. M. D. Hargrove, Shreveport, governor of the physicians' college for Louisiana.
