Although diverticulum of the esophagus occurs more often than we are led to believe from the number of cases reported, it is a comparatively rare condition. Operations on nearly 200 patients with esophageal diverticula, including those in our series, have been reported. Diverticula which do not produce symptoms apparently may occur at almost any point in the esophagus and may be caused by an increase in the intra-esophageal pressure or, more likely, by some tractive force from the outside. Such irregular and small diverticula are often reported in necropsy examinations, but seldom make themselves known during life.
The two common types of esophageal diverticula are the pressure and the traction diverticula. The traction diverticulum commonly occurs in the thoracic part of the esophagus, while the pressure diverticulum is nearly always formed in the cervical region. The traction diverticula are so called because many of them are formed demonstrably by the