Clinical analysis of peroral endoscopic diverticulotomy for the treatment of esophageal epiphrenic diverticulum with esophagogastric junction outflow tract disorder / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the safety and efficacy of combination of submucosal tunneling endoscopic septum division (STESD) and peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for the treatment of esophageal epiphrenic diverticulum with esophagogastric junction (EGJ) outflow tract disorder.Methods:From October 2017 to August 2021, 6 patients with esophageal epiphrenic diverticulum complicated with EGJ outflow tract disorder receiving combination of STESD and POEM in the Endoscopic Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were enrolled. The clinical characteristics of the patients were retrospectively analyzed, which included the ratio of male to female, age, course of disease, length of diverticula, location, whether with multiple diverticula, type of EGJ outflow tract disorders, whether the endoscopic technique was successful (the completion of all steps under endoscopy, including tunnel establishment and diverticulum cristae, lower esophageal sphincter and cardia muscularis propria incision); operation time, changes in the severity of clinical symptoms before and after operation (including weight loss, dysphagia, retrosternal pain, and reflux assessed using the Eckardt score), intraoperative and postoperative complications, and follow-up, including whether achieved clinical success (complete or nearly complete improvement of dysphagia, vomiting after eating, retrosternal pain, regurgitation, weight loss, no need for repeat endoscopic intervention during follow-up) and adverse events. Descriptive methods were used for statistical analysis.Results:The male to female ratio of the 6 patients was 3 to 3, the median age was 69.2 years old, and the median disease course was 92.3 months. The median length of the diverticula was 47.5 mm. Diverticulum was located in the right wall of esophagus in 4 cases and in the left wall of esophagus in 2 cases, of which 1 patient was multiple diverticulum of esophagus. Achalasia was found in 5 cases, and EGJ outflow obstruction was found in 1 case. All the 6 patients successfully completed combination of STESD and POEM, and all achieved successful edoscopic technique. The operation time (range) was 55 min (40 to 70 min). Clinical symptom Eckardt score (range) before and after operation was 9.0 (7.0 to 11.0) and 1.3 (1.0 to 2.0), respectively. After operation the clinical symptom improved compared with that before operation. There were no delayed bleeding, perforation, infection, subcutaneous emphysema and other complications and severe adverse events. Six patients were all cured and discharged. Follow-up period was 1 to 50 months. The symptoms of dysphagia, vomiting after eating, retrosternal pain, regurgitation and weight loss were all significantly improved compared with those before operation. There were no severe adverse events and all achieved clinical success.Conclusions:Combination of STESD and POEM is safe and effective in the treatment of esophageal epiphrenic diverticulum with EGJ outflow tract disorder, and has good short-term and long-term effects.