Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Completes 375 POEM Procedures For Achalasia Cardia

Doctors at Delhi’s leading medical institute—Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has successfully completed 375 POEM procedures commonly known as Per Oral Endoscopic Myotomy for the treatment of Achalasia Cardia.

Achalasia Cardia is a debilitating disease which affects the food pipe, also called as the esophagus. A recent advancement called POEM or Per Oral Endoscopic Myotomy has dramatically improved the treatment outcomes of this complex disorder.

The esophagus performs a vital function of transporting the food that we eat into the stomach for digestion. A valve like muscle called as lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is present between the esophagus and the stomach which permits a one-way transit of esophageal contents into the stomach.

“The Institute of Liver, Gastroenterology and Pancreaticobiliary Sciences (ILGPS) at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has consistently been at the forefront of performing and pioneering POEM procedures in North India. The department has successful completed 375 POEM procedures over the last five years. These patients were in the age range of 14-90 years with mean age of 47 years with 43% females and 57% males,” read the statement shared by SRGM.

Prof. Anil Arora, Chairman, Institute of Liver Gastroenterology and Pancreaticobiliary Sciences at SGRM said: “Achalasia Cardia is a condition when Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES) fails to relax during swallowing and hence food cannot enter the stomach and gets stuck up in the food pipe. As a result, patients with Achalasia Cardia have difficulty in swallowing, develop chest pain followed by vomiting out of   the swallowed food. The symptoms can be devastating with most patients suffering from loss of weight and poor quality of life.”

Prof Arora further mentioned that the biggest enigma in diagnosis of this rare condition which occurs in one in 100000 individuals is that the disease is often missed initially and is mistakenly diagnosed as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease called (GERD) which is very common condition prevalent in one fifth of the population as the symptoms of chest pain, vomiting and regurgitation of food are equally prevalent in both diseases with diagrammatically opposite treatment.

This is where a good and meticulous history of the patient coupled with barium studies, endoscopy and High-resolution manometry studies of esophagus come handy in making a proper diagnosis and selecting the appropriate treatment modality, he said.

“Among the various treatment options available for Achalasia Cardia, POEM has now become the preferred treatment option due to its minimally invasive non-surgical nature and rapid and almost complete symptom relief with excellent outcomes. In POEM, the non-relaxing LES is cut from within the cavity of the esophagus using endoscopy, said Prof Arora.

The entire procedure takes around 1-1.5 hours and is performed under general anesthesia and hence is painless and quite comfortable for the patient. Most patients are able to resume diet from the very next day and are discharged within 48 hours, mentioned a doctor.

Dr. Shrihari Anikhindi, a Consultant Gastroenterologist at SGRM said, “We have noted excellent success rates of up to 95% at our centre. Hence a timely consultation and appropriately guided tests can provide a proper treatment and save many a misery.”