surface; a better predictor of disease severity in patients with primary achalasia than height of barium column

background: subjective assessment of primary achalasia is not accurate. we aimed to evaluate surface of barium retention in the objective assessment of these patients. materials and methods: subjective and objective esophageal functions of 99 patients with primary achalasia were evaluated initially and 43 of them were reevaluated one month after balloon dilation. results: predilation: â  9cases enrolled .mean age was 37.5â±15.3 years. mean score, resting les pressure, height, and surface of barium retention at 5 minutes were 8.03â±3.1.59.1â±20 mmhg, 9.9â±4.9 cm, and 23.6â±13.9 cm2 respectively. surface at 5 minutes had best correlation and predictive value for les pressure. post dilation: 43 of 99 cases reevaluated. mean age was 36.8â±13.6 years .17 of them were male. mean score, resting les pressure, height and surface of barium retention at 5 minutes were 3.4â±3.4, 38.6â±22.6 mmhg, and 8.1â±4.2 cm and 18.8â±11.3 cm2 respectively. variables dropped significantly after dilation. surface at 5 minutes had best correlation and predictive value for les pressure. conclusions: surface of barium retention at 5 minutes is an accurateobjective tool to assess patients with primary achalasia. it is cheap and easy to perform; therefore it could be used more frequently in follow up.