Modified Mondays: Anterior Esophageal Web Video

Here’s a great example of an anterior esophageal web. They can be hard to spot, especially if they aren’t significantly problematic. It’s easiest to see right at the height of laryngeal elevation. Webs are a thin fold of esophageal tissue that partially obstructs the lumen. They are anterior and are most common in the proximal (closer to the pharynx) esophagus. If they obstruct the lumen more significantly, we can see patients with complaints of food “getting stuck” or being regurgitated. Even when they don’t seem to be causing difficulty for the patient, they still warrant further assessment, so a referral to a GI is the next step. Here’s a link to an article that nicely describes webs, as well as esophageal rings, which can also present with symptoms of dysphagia. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3033540/

PS If you’re having trouble seeing it on the video clip, we’ve also included a snapshot below. Full disclosure: Angela, one of our Cleveland team SLPs, spotted this right away during the evaluation, I had a hard time catching it at first. I’ll never hear the end of it.