Re: Question on # of re-do Hellers a good surgeon will have done?

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure about re-dos, but I had a Heller on Aug. 3.  My surgeon at

Vanderbilt in Nashville had done 200-250 of these, which he said was a ton in

this business.  He also has written against doing the wrap, as his belief

(which has changed through his career) is that it only creates more issues in

swallowing.

Hope this helps!

________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hello. My son had a heller done in June 2007. He is having to do another one by

the end of this year, the surgeon stated he opened him up from the top now he

needs to go do the same thing to the bottom of his esophagus. I have heard of

Heller re-dos years later.

From: plotwoman <plotwoman@...>

achalasia

Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 3:00 PM

Subject: Question on # of re-do Hellers a good surgeon will have

done?

 

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with Achalasia in November 2007 and had a Heller Myotomy in

January 2008. I had a check-up barium swallow earlier this year which showed

that I was having significant trouble again, which another round of motility

study and endoscopy confirmed. It looks as if my fundoplication wrap was too

tight the first time around, so I'm looking at having a re-do Heller.

My question is, the surgeon my gastroenterologist referred me to says he has

done 7 re-do Hellers. I know this is very rare, but I thought maybe a specialist

should have seen more than 7, so I called two other surgeons today, and one says

he's done between 10 and 20, and another says he has done about 25.

Has anyone here had a re-do Heller? I'd like to go with the surgeon by

gastroenterologist likes, but I'm concerned about finding someone who has done a

sufficiently large number of these surgeries.

Much thanks,

Stefanie