Abstract
The esophagus and trachea form from a single common tubular structure that separates into an anterior laryngotracheal groove and a posterior esophagus (Collins 1995). Development of the esophagus begins in the fourth week of fetal life when the respiratory diverticula, or lung buds, appear on the ventral wall of the foregut at the border with the pharyngeal gut. Lateral invagination of the mesodermal esophagotracheal septum gradually partitions this diverticulum from the foregut, thus dividing into the ventral respiratory primordium and the dorsal esophagus. Epithelial growth obliterates the lumen, which recanalizes at the tenth week (Sadler 2000). The esophagus is initially short, but lengthens rapidly with descent of the heart and lungs, and attains normal length by 7 weeks. Occasionally, the esophagus fails to lengthen sufficiently, and the stomach is pulled up into the esophageal hiatus through the diaphragm, resulting in a congenital hiatal hernia (Sadler 2000).
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Keywords
- Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
- Aortic Arch
- Hiatal Hernia
- Lower Esophageal Sphincter
- Esophageal Atresia
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Glass, R.B.J. (2008). The Esophagus. In: Devos, A.S., Blickman, J.G. (eds) Radiological Imaging of the Digestive Tract in Infants and Children. Medical Radiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68153-3_2
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