A research team at CHA Gangnam Medical Center has successfully conducted the world's first per-oral endoscopic esophagomyotomy (POEM) surgery on an infant with esophageal ataxia.
According to the hospital, the infant was diagnosed with esophageal stenosis at another university hospital due to vomiting and swallowing disorders since birth.
However, the patient was transferred to CHA Gangnam Medical Center due to persistent vomiting. A team, led by Professor Cho Joo-young of the Gastroenterology Department, conducted gastroscopy and esophageal angiography and diagnosed with gastroscopy and esophageal angiography the patient with esophageal ataxia.
Professor Cho's team decided to conduct a POEM surgery through an endoscope without an open stomach for a complete cure.
The team completed the procedure to improve the lower esophagus's relaxation disorder by incising the esophagus's muscular layer, which is the cause of esophageal ataxia, with an endoscope. After that, the infant could be breastfed or drink formula, leading a healthy daily life without vomiting symptoms.
"Esophageal ataxia occurs mainly in adults aged 30 to 60 years, but it can also occur in infants," Professor Cho said. "The surgery was is meaningful as the first successful POEM operation in an infant."
POM is the optimal treatment for patients who suffer every time they eat food to comfortably eat after a recovery period of three to five days after surgery, Cho added.
Cho expressed expectations the surgery method would receive reimbursement in the future so that more patients can lead a healthy daily life.
Esophageal ataxia is a disease in which normal esophageal movement does not occur when swallowing food, causing food to accumulate in the esophagus and cause chest tightness. It appears in one in 100,000 people.
While hospitals use drug treatment, botulinum toxin injection, endoscopic balloon dilatation, and surgical treatment, each has its problem; drug treatment has low efficacy, BTX injection only has a temporary therapeutic effect, and endoscopic balloon dilatation has a high recurrence rate.
Therefore, surgical surgery is the only treatment that can completely cure the patient. However, surgical complications, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and extracorporeal scarring have been an issue when conducting such surgeries, according to the hospital.
POEM does not leave any scars on the body and uses an endoscope to selectively incision the esophagus muscles within one to two hours, leaving no surgical scars. The hospitalization and recovery period is also short, and there are few cases of side effects, it added.