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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Cureus

Jackhammer Esophagus Presenting as Chest Discomfort and Dyspnea in a Patient With Undifferentiated Inflammatory Arthritis and a Positive Scl-70 Antibody Test

  • Giuliana Perini Villanueva1
  • Alex Kokaly2
  • Nisha Sunku3
  • Christina W Chung4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Internal Medicine, Ronald Reagan UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA
  2. 2Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), Los Angeles, USA
  3. 3Internal Medicine, UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Health, Los Angeles, USA
  4. 4Internal Medicine, UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Santa Monica Medical Center, Santa Monica, USA
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Abstract

Chest discomfort in patients with autoimmune connective tissue disease often prompts extensive cardiopulmonary evaluation, yet esophageal motility disorders remain an underrecognized etiology.

In this report, we present a case of a 34-year-old woman with Raynaud's phenomenon, undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis (ANA- and Scl-70-positive), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) who developed progressive dyspnea and chest tightness following an influenza A infection. Despite an unremarkable broad initial workup that included computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography, echocardiography, and pulmonary function testing, high-resolution esophageal manometry with impedance, along with supplemental testing (endoluminal functional lumen imaging probe (EndoFLIP) and barium esophagram), ultimately supported a diagnosis of jackhammer esophagus (JE), a rare hypercontractile esophageal motility disorder.

This case highlights JE as a rare and underrecognized cause of chest symptoms that should be considered when cardiopulmonary evaluation is unrevealing, particularly in patients with underlying autoimmune connective tissue disease, positive SSc serological markers, and a history of gastrointestinal disease.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{villanueva2026jackhammer,
  title = {{Jackhammer Esophagus Presenting as Chest Discomfort and Dyspnea in a Patient With Undifferentiated Inflammatory Arthritis and a Positive Scl-70 Antibody Test}},
  author = {Giuliana Perini Villanueva and Alex Kokaly and Nisha Sunku and Christina W Chung},
  journal = {Cureus},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.7759/cureus.117601},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.117601},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Jackhammer Esophagus Presenting as Chest Discomfort and Dyspnea in a Patient With Undifferentiated Inflammatory Arthritis and a Positive Scl-70 Antibody Test
AU  - Giuliana Perini Villanueva
AU  - Alex Kokaly
AU  - Nisha Sunku
AU  - Christina W Chung
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
JO  - Cureus
DO  - 10.7759/cureus.117601
UR  - https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.117601
AB  - Chest discomfort in patients with autoimmune connective tissue disease often prompts extensive cardiopulmonary evaluation, yet esophageal motility disorders remain an underrecognized etiology.  In this report, we present a case of a 34-year-old woman with Raynaud's phenomenon, undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis (ANA- and Scl-70-positive), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) who developed progressive dyspnea and chest tightness following an influenza A infection. Despite an unremarkable broad initial workup that included computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography, echocardiography, and pulmonary function testing, high-resolution esophageal manometry with impedance, along with supplemental testing (endoluminal functional lumen imaging probe (EndoFLIP) and barium esophagram), ultimately supported a diagnosis of jackhammer esophagus (JE), a rare hypercontractile esophageal motility disorder.  This case highlights JE as a rare and underrecognized cause of chest symptoms that should be considered when cardiopulmonary evaluation is unrevealing, particularly in patients with underlying autoimmune connective tissue disease, positive SSc serological markers, and a history of gastrointestinal disease.
SN  - 2168-8184
ER  -