Achalasia is a rare
esophageal motility disorder that is usually idiopathic in origin. It is characterized by
dysphagia, and patients often have
chest pain, regurgitation,
weight loss, and an abnormal
barium radiograph showing esophageal dilation with narrowing at the gastroesophageal junction. Abnormal or absent esophageal peristalsis and impaired relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) are typically seen on esophageal manometry. The advent of high resolution manometry (HRM) has allowed more precise diagnosis of
achalasia, subtype designation, and differentiation from other esophageal
motor disorders with an initial seminal publication in 2008 followed by further refinements of what has been termed the Chicago classification. Potential treatments include drugs, endoscopic
botulinum toxin injection, balloon dilation, traditional surgery (usually
laparoscopic Heller myotomy; LHM), and a novel, less invasive, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) approach to
Heller myotomy termed peroral endoscopic
myotomy (POEM). The first human POEM was performed in 2008, with the first publication appearing in 2010 and evidence now rapidly accumulating showing POEM to be comparable to traditional surgery in terms of clinical success and radiologic and manometric post-
therapy outcomes. This review discusses the diagnosis and management of
achalasia with particular emphasis on the recent developments of HRM and POEM, which arguably represent the most important advances in the field since the advent of
laparoscopic Heller myotomy in the 1990s.