Nonsurgical acid reflux therapies work: U.S. study
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two nonsurgical procedures relieve many symptoms of acid reflux disease including heartburn in people who are not helped by the medications typically used to treat it, U.S. researchers said on Friday.
In this chronic condition, also called gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, stomach acid backs up into the esophagus, irritating its lining and causing inflammation. Persistent, often-severe heartburn is the most common symptom.
Most people are helped if they take a class of drugs called proton pump inhibitors such as AstraZeneca Plc’s Nexium and Prilosec, Wyeth’s Protonix, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co’s Prevacid and Eisai Inc’s Aciphex.
For those who are not helped by medications, there are few options short of surgery.
The new study, published in the journal Archives of Surgery, found two rarely performed so-called endoluminal therapies reduced heartburn, swallowing difficulties and voice hoarseness in many patients who underwent them.
Both are done using an endoscope, a long flexible instrument inserted through the mouth and down the esophagus.
One procedure called full-thickness plication uses the endoscope to tighten the junction between the esophagus and the stomach with sutures. The other, called radiofrequency therapy, uses heat to improve the function of the valve between the esophagus and stomach.
In this study, 68 patients underwent radiofrequency treatment and 58 had full-thickness plication.
“I think medication is still the first thing that people should try for reflux,” Dr. Louis Jeansonne IV of Ochsner Medical Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview.
“Surgery is still the most effective treatment in people who don’t have relief with medications. But this study shows that this therapy without surgery is a viable option in patients who either can’t have surgery or don’t want surgery,” Jeansonne added.
Surgery used to treat acid reflux is called laparoscopic fundoplication, in which doctors take the top of the stomach and wrap it around the lower part of the esophagus to create a barrier for acid reflux.
Acid reflux returns more than 80 percent of the time when people stop taking the medications.
“It’s nice to be able to offer something less invasive,” said Dr. Edward Lin of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, another of the researchers.
Lin noted the two nonsurgical treatments are uncommon in part because health insurance companies typically do not pay for them. Lin added that these nonsurgical treatments do not preclude a patient from getting surgery later if they do not provide relief.
(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Todd Eastham)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Related Posts:
You’ve tried altering your diet. Now try one of the newest and most effective medications for acid reflux to hit the market. Nexium is a powerful proton inhibitor that’s shown to significantly reduce acid levels in the stomach. In clinical testing, Nexium healed damage to the esophagus and stopped heartburn in nearly 9 out of
Full Post: Nexium is a powerful proton inhibitor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Megan Rauscher NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In children with both asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), treating the latter can improve the former, according to research presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Seattle. GERD is a common disease in which fluid from the stomach backs
Full Post: Treating reflux helps kids with asthma
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Stomach acid reflux or heartburn may be a particular problem for people with breathing problems such as emphysema or bronchitis, known generally as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, researchers report. However, the reverse doesn’t seem to be the case, according to a study investigating the relationship between the two conditions. For
Full Post: COPD may trigger acid reflux problems
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Surgery to remove the esophagus is not being used as often as it should be for some cases of early-stage cancer of the esophagus. That’s the conclusion of Dr. E. Carter Paulson and colleagues, from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who assessed the treatment of 2,386 patients
Full Post: Surgery underused for esophagus cancer: study
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Surgical removal of the kidney — a procedure known as nephrectomy — improves survival in patients with locally advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer. Dr. Pierre I. Karakiewicz from University of Montreal and colleagues determined survival rates for 43,143 patients treated with nephrectomy for advanced renal
Full Post: Surgery improves kidney cancer survival: study