Value of routine timed barium esophagram follow-up in achalasia after myotomy

What is the value of routine follow-up after diagnosis and treatment of cancer?

Improved outcome after extended gastric myotomy for achalasia.

HYPOTHESIS There is general agreement that a Heller myotomy should extend 6 to 7 cm above the gastroesophageal junction. Results of most previous studies have recommended that the myotomy extend 1 to 1.5 cm below the gastroesophageal junction. We speculated that the effectiveness of the operation could be improved if a longer, 3-cm myotomy was carried out below the gastroesophageal junction, as...

Routine Angiographic Follow-Up versus Clinical Follow-Up after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Acute Myocardial Infarction

PURPOSE Differences in the utility of routine angiographic follow-up (RAF) and clinical follow-up (CF) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are not well understood. The present study aimed to compare the 3-year clinical outcomes of RAF and CF in AMI patients who underwent PCI with drug-eluting stents (DES). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 774 co...

Evaluation of successful treatment in achalasia with timed barium esophagogram: revisiting an old friend

Achalasia is a rare idiopathic, primary esophageal motility disorder. Pharmacologic, endoscopic and surgical methods are used in its treatment. The efficiency of the treatment is generally based on clinical "subjective" criteria. Manometry, which is the gold standard in diagnostic and in treatment monitoring is not always available, it is costly and it needs expertise. The role of timed barium ...

Timed barium oesophagram: better predictor of long term success after pneumatic dilation in achalasia than symptom assessment.

BACKGROUND Symptom relief post pneumatic dilation is traditionally used to assess treatment success in achalasia patients. Recently, we showed that symptom relief and objective oesophageal emptying are concordant in about 70% of patients, while up to 30% of achalasia patients report near complete symptom relief despite poor oesophageal emptying of barium. AIMS We now report the results of lon...