Clinical outcomes and manometry results of peroral endoscopic myotomy in patients with achalasia: experience in a Latin American referral centre

Introduction

Currently there is little information in Latin America on the clinical outcome and manometric evolution of patients with Achalasia undergoing peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM).

Primary outcome

Evaluate the manometric and clinical changes in adult patients with achalasia after peroral endoscopic myotomy at a referral center in Bogotá, Colombia.

Methods

Observational, analytical, longitudinal study. Adult patients with achalasia according to the Chicago 4.0 criteria were included. Sociodemographic, clinical and manometric variables were described. To compare the pre- and post-surgical variables, the Student’s or Wilcoxon’s t test was used for the quantitative variables according to their normality, and McNemar’s chi-square for the qualitative variables.

Results

29 patients were included, 55.17% (n = 16) women, with a mean age at the time of surgery of 48.2 years (±11.33). The mean post-procedure evaluation time was 1.88 ± 0.81 years. After the procedure, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of patients with weight loss (37.93% vs 21.43% p = 0.0063), chest pain (48.28% vs 21.43, p = 0.0225) and the median Eckardt score (8 (IQR 8–9) vs 2 (IQR 1–2), p < 0.0001). In addition, in fourteen patients with post-surgical manometry, significant differences were found between IRP values (23.05 ± 14.83 mmHg vs 7.69 ± 6.06 mmHg, p = 0.026) and in the mean lower esophageal sphincter tone (9.63 ± 7.2 mmHg vs 28.8 ± 18.60 mmHg, p = 0.0238).

Conclusion

Peroral endoscopic myotomy has a positive impact on the improvement of symptoms and of some manometric variables (IRP and LES tone) in patients with achalasia.