Esophagus – cardia inactivation

Not long ago, the Department of Gastroenterology admitted a patient who had been suffering from the disease for a long time. Ms. Wu had been diagnosed with “cardia inactivation” after experiencing recurrent swallowing difficulties, food reflux and vomiting for the past eight years. In the past eight years, Ms. Wu has been going around for medical treatment, trying many western and traditional Chinese medicines, but the results were not satisfactory, and a few years ago, she also underwent esophageal stenting treatment, but there was still no significant improvement. She came to our hospital for treatment, and under the leadership of Professor Wan Rong, the Endoscopy Center team successfully carried out transoral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), and the patient’s symptoms improved rapidly, as if she had a new life. At present, drug treatment and stent placement cannot fundamentally relieve the lower esophageal sphincter obstruction, the efficacy is uncertain, and the recurrence rate is high, while surgical procedures are traumatic and slow to recover, which is difficult for many patients to tolerate. Transoral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is currently the best method for the treatment of cardia incontinentia, with less trauma and an efficiency of over 90%. Under the leadership of Prof. Wan Rong, the endoscopic team quickly started the POEM procedure. Usually this type of procedure requires a full incision of the entire intrinsic muscle layer or the internal ring muscle, but Prof. Wan Rong has improved the procedure by innovatively selectively incising part of the internal ring muscle. If the patient’s cardia is viewed as a tightly closed door, traditionally the door is removed in its entirety to make it open, Prof. Wan opened a portion of the door, which preserves part of the function of the cardia sphincter and minimizes the risk of surgery while relieving the patient’s symptoms. Ms. Wu is now recovering well and was able to open her diet the day after surgery. As one of the most cutting-edge technologies in the world of gastrointestinal endoscopy, the successful implementation of POEM surgery in our gastroenterology department shows that the development level of our gastrointestinal endoscopy center is on par with the international level.