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Achalasia: History

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Foregut Surgery

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Abstract

The first treatment for achalasia was a forceful dilatation of the cardia using a whale bone. The method of cardia dilatation eventually evolved to intraoperative dilatations until it reached the more elegant use of pneumatic balloons, currently in use. Ingenious operations were created to treat the disease until Heller proposed his double myotomy, which eventually evolved to a single myotomy associated to a fundoplication. Today it is currently accepted that all achalasia patients in good clinical condition should undergo pneumatic dilatation, laparoscopic Heller myotomy, or per-oral esophageal myotomy.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Rafael M. Laurino Neto

  2. Gastrointestinal Surgery – Esophagus and Stomach Division, Department of Surgery, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Fernando A. M. Herbella

Authors
  1. Rafael M. Laurino Neto
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  2. Fernando A. M. Herbella
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando A. M. Herbella .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marco G. Patti

  2. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marco Di Corpo

  3. University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Francisco Schlottmann

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Laurino Neto, R.M., Herbella, F.A.M. (2020). Achalasia: History. In: Patti, M., Di Corpo, M., Schlottmann, F. (eds) Foregut Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27592-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27592-1_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27591-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27592-1

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