The Esophageal Mucosa: Clues to Underlying Pathology.

Esophageal mucosal abnormalities, when accurately recognized, can provide clues to underlying pathology. In this article, we discuss strategies to enhance the detection and assessment of benign esophageal diseases during upper endoscopy by esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). We provide a summary of skills required to perform high-quality EGD procedures from a technical standpoint, as well as a comprehensive description of the endoscopic appearance of the esophagus in health and in benign, organic diseases including eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), lymphocytic esophagitis and EoE variants, erosive reflux disease, medication-induced esophageal injuries, infectious esophagitis, and other acute and chronic esophageal injuries. Endoscopic classification systems are also described.