achalasia

Also known as Lack of reflex relaxation of lower oesophageal sphincter, achalasia of cardia, achalasia of esophagus (disorder), cardiospasm, esophageal achalasia, hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter (disorder), hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter, achalasia of esophagus

esophageal disease characterized by an inability of the esophagus to move food toward the stomach resulting from the lower esophogeal sphincter not fully relaxing during swallowing

Key facts

Other names: Achalasia cardiae, cardiospasm, esophageal aperistalsis, achalasia
Pronunciation: / ˌ æ k ə ˈ l eɪ z i ə /
Specialty: Gastroenterology , thoracic surgery , general surgery , laparoscopic surgery
Symptoms: Anorexia (but willing and trying to eat), inability to swallow food, chest pain comparable to heart attack, lightheadedness, dehydration, excessive vomiting after eating (often without nausea).
Usual onset: Normally in mid-to-late life, rarely during youth
Duration: Lifelong
Types: 1st stage – 2–3 cm dilated, 2nd stage – 4–5 cm dilated, bird beak looking, 3rd stage – 5–7 cm, dilated 4th / Late-stage – 8+ cm dilated, sigmoid
Causes: Unknown
Risk factors: Inconclusive, but possibly: history of autoimmune disorders, air-hunger that accompanies anxiety, faulty eating habits, improper diet
Diagnostic method: Esophageal manometry, biopsy, X-ray, barium swallow study, endoscopy
Prevention: No method of prevention
Treatment: Heller myotomy and fundoplomy, POEM, pneumatic dilation, botulinum toxin
Prognosis: ~76% chance of survival after 20 years (in a western country such as Germany)
Frequency: ~1 in 100,000 people
Deaths: 829 in a period of 1–8 years study out of a 28 demographic, 754 million record pool.

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

10,729 papers

Achalasia: a systematic review.JAMA · 2015
Achalasia: Diagnosis and Management.The Surgical clinics of North America · 2025
Achalasia.The Gastroenterologist · 1995
Achalasia.Minerva gastroenterologica e dietologica · 2008
Achalasia.Gastroenterology clinics of North America · 2008

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Subclass of: disease

Show 7 more facts

possible treatment: Heller myotomy
Commons category: Achalasia
NCI Thesaurus ID: C84699
health specialty: thoracic surgery
exact match: identifiers.org/doid/DOID:9164
ICD-9-CM: 530.0
on focus list of Wikimedia project: WikiProject Medicine

Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~19 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Esophageal achalasia, often referred to simply as achalasia, is a failure of smooth muscle fibers to relax, which can cause the lower esophageal sphincter to remain closed. Without a modifier, "achalasia" usually refers to achalasia of the esophagus. Achalasia can happen at various points along the gastrointestinal tract; achalasia of the rectum, for instance, may occur in Hirschsprung's disease. The lower esophageal sphincter is a muscle between the esophagus and stomach that opens when food comes in. It closes to avoid stomach acids from coming back up. A fully understood cause to the disease is unknown, as are factors that increase the risk of its appearance. Suggestions of a genetically transmittable form of achalasia exist, but this is neither fully understood, nor agreed upon.

Esophageal achalasia is an esophageal motility disorder involving the smooth muscle layer of the esophagus and the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). It is characterized by incomplete LES relaxation, increased LES tone, and lack of peristalsis of the esophagus (inability of smooth muscle to move food down the esophagus) in the absence of other explanations like cancer or fibrosis. Conversely, achalasia can provoke other diseases; in particular, esophageal cancer is an important concern. The impaired transmission of food may cause candidiasis in the esophagus, which in turn is a risk factor for cancer.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “achalasia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.