"So hope shattered", Silver states in some canal (10)

I believe the answer is:

oesophagus

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'some canal' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both body parts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'so hope shattered silver states' is the wordplay.
'shattered' indicates an anagram.
'silver' becomes 'Ag' (Ag is the chemical symbol for silver).
'states' becomes 'US' (abbreviation for the United States).
'so'+'hope'='sohope'
'sohope' with letters rearranged gives 'oesoph'.
'oesoph'+'ag'+'us'='OESOPHAGUS'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for oesophagus that I've seen before include "Throat to stomach link" , "Gullet" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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