RadioGraphics, Vol 7, 289-307, Copyright © 1987 by Radiological Society of North America
Adult esophageal candidiasis: a radiographic spectrum
L Roberts Jr, R Gibbons, G Gibbons, RP Rice and WM Thompson
Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710.
With the increasing use of cancer chemotherapy and organ transplantation
requiring immunosuppressive therapy, and with the incidence of
immunodeficiency states such as AIDS increasing, it is to be expected that
candida esophagitis will occur with increasing frequency. Though fiberoptic
endoscopy is a more specific and more sensitive approach to the diagnosis
of candida esophagitis than barium esophagography, it is also more
invasive, and many patients will continue to be examined radiologically, at
least initially. The radiologist continues, therefore, to play a
significant role in suggesting the diagnosis and it is incumbent on him to
familiarize himself with the spectrum of common and unusual radiographic
manifestations of this disease.
