Seventy-one patients with achalasia were studied. They were 2-29 years old. Dysphagia to solid food was the main presenting symptom (100 percent). Reliable and persistent manometric findings were absence of normal contraction waves in association with the presence of low amplitudes simultaneous waves in all cases. In vigorous achalasia, weight loss (P=0.001), dysphagia (P=0.012) and LES pressur...