The severity of esophageal diverticula depends mainly on the location and size of the diverticulum.
Esophageal diverticula can be found in three areas: pharyngo-esophageal diverticula, mid-esophageal diverticula, and supra-diaphragmatic diverticula.
Pharyngo-esophageal diverticulum has no symptoms in the early stage or only mild dysphagia; mid-esophageal diverticulum has no symptoms in the early stage; and supra-diaphragmatic diverticulum is mainly characterized by pain in the back of the sternum or the upper abdomen and food reflux.
If the diverticulum is small, most of them have no obvious symptoms, and will not affect digestion and absorption, and will not have too much impact on health, and do not need special treatment, but also can go to the hospital for gastroscopy to be able to find out that the diverticulum exists.
When the diverticulum increases in size, food retention, choking sensation of swallowing, retrosternal pain, food reflux, etc. can occur. It can also cause lung abscess, pulmonary atelectasis, and pneumonia. In this case, surgical incision is required.