Guide To Treating Esophageal Achalasia

Fundoplication

One of the risks of myotomy is acid reflux, which is when the opened esophageal sphincter allows the stomach contents to backwash into the esophagus, causing heartburn. One way to treat this is fundoplication. There are several types of this procedure, but the most popular type surgeons use with myotomy is anterior. In this operation, the upper, curved area of the stomach called the fundus is sutured over the front of the patient’s esophagus, so whenever the stomach contracts it automatically shuts the esophagus. In posterior, or Toupet fundoplication, the fundus is stitched at the back of the esophagus. The Nissan operation wraps the fundus all the way around the esophagus, but this isn’t usually done for patients with esophageal achalasia.

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