title: Imaging of the oesophagus: beyond cancer.
abstract: Non-malignant oesophageal diseases are critical to recognize, but can be easily overlooked or misdiagnosed radiologically. In this paper, we cover the salient clinical features and imaging findings of non-malignant pathology of the oesophagus. We organize the many non-malignant diseases of the oesophagus into two major categories: luminal disorders and wall disorders. Luminal disorders include dilatation/narrowing (e.g. achalasia, scleroderma, and stricture) and foreign body impaction. Wall disorders include wall thickening (e.g. oesophagitis, benign neoplasms, oesophageal varices, and intramural hematoma), wall thinning/outpouching (e.g. epiphrenic diverticulum, Zenker diverticulum, and Killian-Jamieson diverticulum), wall rupture (e.g. iatrogenic perforation, Boerhaave Syndrome, and Mallory-Weiss Syndrome), and fistula formation (e.g. pericardioesophageal fistula, tracheoesophageal fistula, and aortoesophageal fistula). It is the role of the radiologist to recognize the classic imaging patterns of these non-malignant oesophageal diseases to facilitate the delivery of appropriate and prompt medical treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • Nonmalignant oesophageal disease can be categorised by the imaging appearance of wall and lumen. • Scleroderma and achalasia both cause lumen dilatation via different pathophysiologic pathways. • Oesophageal wall thickening can be inflammatory, neoplastic, traumatic, or vascular in aetiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 648, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA. Thomas_Marini@urmc.rochester.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1529-5097
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 648, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 648, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaproth-Joslin
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 648, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wandtke
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 648, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
authors.forename: Susan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hobbs
keywords: Dilatation; Non-malignant; Oesophagus; Rupture; Stricture