OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Characteristics and outcomes of pediatric patients undergoing cricopharyngeus injection with botulinum toxin for the treatment of cricopharyngeal achalasia were reviewed. A parental telephone survey was performed to assess improvement and satisfaction. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective review of patients who underwent injection of the cricopharyngeus with botulinum toxin for cr...

Achalasia is a relatively rare medical condition that is classically not associated with obesity. The surgical treatment of a simultaneous occurrence of these two diseases requires careful consideration, and only a few reports can be found in the literature combining a Heller myotomy with gastric bypass, duodenal switch, or gastric banding. We report the case of a 69-year-old female patient wit...

BACKGROUND Pseudoachalasia is a rare diagnosis manifested by clinical and physiologic symptoms of achalasia, with alternative etiology for outflow obstruction. While malignancy is a frequent cause of pseudoachalasia, prior surgical intervention especially surgery involving the esophagogastric junction, may result in a misdiagnosis of achalasia. CASE PRESENTATION We present a case of a 70 year...

Pneumatic dilation (PD) is an effective treatment for achalasia cardia. Outcome of PD, however, varies among different studies. Recently, some groups started considering laparoscopic myotomy to be competitive to PD in treatment of achalasia considering dreaded complication like perforation following the latter therapeutic approach. Therefore, there is need to predict outcome of PD for achalasia...

Oesophageal achalasia is uncommon in children and in its familial form it is a rarity. The presentation and management of two male siblings who presented with oesophageal achalasia as infants are reported. A high degree of consanguinity in the parents of the children existed, suggesting autosomal recessive transmission.

BACKGROUND Some patients with achalasia have distal esophageal contraction amplitude in the normal range, a condition called vigorous achalasia, and others have low contraction amplitude, a condition named classic achalasia. The difference in distal contraction amplitude may also be associated with a difference in proximal contraction amplitude. AIM To study the proximal and distal esophageal...

The most important component of the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) is the cricopharyngeal muscle. During the measurement of sphincter pressure the catheter passed through the sphincter affects the pressure value. In Chagas' disease and primary achalasia there is an esophageal myenteric plexus denervation which may affect UES pressure. We measured the UES pressure of 115 patients with Chagas' ...

The article by Meillier et al. included in this issue evaluated the clinical differences between achalasia subtypes based on symptoms, esophagram, and a new esophageal stasis score measured with high-resolution impedance manometry (HRIM). The findings of interest in that study on 108 patients are: 1) clinical symptoms did not aid in distinguishing the different achalasia subtypes, with the exce...

Barium esophagograms of 89 patients out of 110 with manometrically proven achalasia were reviewed. Only four (4.4%) patients showed association of hiatal hernia, indicative of its rare occurrence. Presence of hiatal hernia, is said to have less likelihood of associated achalasia but this association does exist as per our report and that of others.

Abstract Introduction Megaoesophagus, dilatation of the oesophagus, is a recognised late complication achalasia cardia, Chagas disease and, less commonly, dysmotility disorders. Megaoesophagus often presents with dysphagia, regurgitation food and chest pain. Here, we describe case patient presenting stridor secondary to chronic in absence dysphagia. Case Report An 85-year-old female presented E...