clinical features
Last reviewed 01/2018
Most para-oesophageal herniae are asymptomatic (1).
- usually, symptoms develop in adult life and when the hernia is large
- heartburn and regurgitation are absent since the hernia is intra-abdominal.
Clinical features may include:
- intermittent dysphagia - chiefly a slowness in food passing through the distal oesophagus where it is compressed by the adjacent gastric pouch
- gaseous eructations - belching of wind from the stomach through the mouth
- hiccough - due to irritation of the phrenic nerve
- gurgling or splashing noises in the chest
- early satiety and postprandial vomiting
- acute epigastric or chest pain due to volvulus, incarceration or gangrene
Rarely, a rolling hernia may cause:
- cardiac symptoms due to pressure on the heart, e.g. palpitations
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