Results with and without treatment. WAS:Having Robotic Heller Mytomy Tomorrow

[Guest guest]

RICHARD wrote:

>

> ... by delaying surgery you might bery well be altering your body and

> possibly screwing things up even more, ...

>

This small study hasn't been shared for a while:

Evolutive radiological changes of the esophagus in patients with

achalasia who did not receive treatment.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17342353

" ... there was a significant increase in the diameter of the thoracic

esophagus, with a rate of " dilatation " of 6.1 mm/year. In addition,

there was a significant decrease of the internal diameter of the

esophagogastric junction, with a rate of " stenosis " of 1 mm/year. "

That was a very small study so you can't put to much importance on it,

but is does say what we fear. Also, it does not compare the rate of

change in those that did receive treatment. But, you can somewhat

compare those results with these:

Pneumatic balloon dilatation in primary achalasia: the long-term

follow-up results.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15816461

" The mean diameter of the esophagus was regressed to 26.51+/-7.69 mm

from 36.66+/-11.23 mm (p<0.001) and the mean diameter of the lower

esophageal sphincter was increased to 8.38+/-3.12 mm from 2.58+/-1.13 mm

(p<0.001) with pneumatic dilatation. "

Long-term results of conventional myotomy in patients with achalasia: a

prospective 20-year analysis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17175461

" The radiologically measured maximum diameter of the esophagus decreased

from preoperatively 45 (range, 20-75) mm to postoperatively 30 (range,

20-60) mm, while the minimum diameter of the cardia increased from 3.4

(range, 1-10) mm to 10 (range, 5-15) mm. "

The numbers are going to change from one study to another because

different groups of achalasia patients are going to be different, but

the point is without treatment measurements became worse but with

treatment they became better.

notan