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Discover Relief from Achalasia at Mayo Clinic

When you come to Mayo Clinic to diagnose or manage your achalasia, you'll work with experienced gastroenterologists and thoracic surgeons who specialize in the treatment of this rare disorder.

Achalasia can be easily mistaken for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Specialists at Mayo Clinic are skilled in distinguishing achalasia from other digestive diseases and offer expertise in the latest treatment and surgical options. We will listen to your needs and develop a personalized treatment plan that alleviates your symptoms, reverses malnutrition and heals intestinal damage.

Nonsurgical and minimally invasive treatments are always considered first. If your condition requires surgery, our thoracic surgeons have extensive experience with minimally invasive procedures, including laparoscopic Heller myotomy and peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM). These approaches can mean a faster recovery time, shorter hospital stay and reduced pain.

Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ariz. has been ranked the #1 hospital in Arizona for 11 consecutive years, and is top ranked in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery by U.S. News & World Report.

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Eating is a big part of our daily life. It's part of our social get together. And in achalasia in some patients that struggled to eat really erodes that, and it can have a huge impact on their quality of life. In achalasia the nerves in the esophagus are damaged. That results in loss of normal contractions. Instead of having that normal nice emptying with squeezing and opening of that lower esophageal sphincter, that lower esophageal sphincter doesn't open and the esophagus doesn't squeeze in achalasia. And now things just kind of sit in the esophagus. From 1 to 3 individuals in a hundred thousand population will develop achalasia in one year. We see anywhere from 100 to 200 people a year, which makes us one of the busiest centers for achalasia in the world. Seeing a lot of the condition helps us kind of know the nuances and provide really expert care to the patient. We are able to provide a multi-disciplinary, comprehensive and coordinated approach to consultations with gastroenterology and thoracic surgery specialist. And then we have a newer treatment called peroral endoscopic myotomy or POEM, which is kind of a marriage between endoscopic approaches and the surgical approach, where we go in with a scope through the mouth, but we kind of do the cutting from the inside out rather than the outside in like we would with the surgery. It is minimally invasive, doesn't require any surgical scars, and the recovery from the procedure is very short. In over 90% of cases, there is drastic or significant improvement in symptoms to the point where the patient can live a near normal life. The ability to eat is one of the most important things for their quality of life. And so being able to get that back to somebody is really kind of a very rewarding thing, and it certainly is very important to the patient.

I can't say enough about my surgeons and my entire care teams at Mayo Clinic. In addition to everything else, I love their coordination of care, and how everyone is on the same team and the same page at all times.

— Joyce

Why Choose Mayo Clinic?

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