Jörg Zehetner from the ISDE Worldcongress 2018 in Vienna, Austria
(International Society of the Diseases of the Esophagus)
What is the oesophagus?
Oesophagus is the medical term for the oesophagus. The oesophagus is a muscular tube that pumps our food from the mouth into the stomach. To prevent the oesophagus from being burned all the time by the gastric juice (stomach acid), there is a valve at the end of the oesophagus: the lower oesophageal muscle.
Disorders in the oesophageal area
If the lower oesophageal muscle (this region is also called the cardia) becomes slack, weak or defective, then it is relatively easy for stomach acid to flow back into the oesophagus and cause symptoms such as heartburn, stomach burn, acid regurgitation or burning in the chest area. This backflow of stomach acid into the oesophagus is medically called reflux.
Persistent reflux (chronic reflux) is a risk factor for oesophageal cancer. People often try to get a grip on the problem with acid blockers and diet tips. However, all these methods only alleviate the acute symptoms, not the causes. The mechanical problem – the defective stomach valve – remains. This means that there is still a risk of the disease progressing, which in the final stage can end in oesophageal cancer.
How chronic reflux can be countered
Only an operation, today simply performed as a minimally invasive short procedure, can stop the reflux and thereby reduce the discomfort as well as the risk of cancer to zero.
With such an operation, the mechanical defect in the cardia muscle is repaired so that normal function can be fully restored.
In order to be able to understand the entire pathological course of reflux up to oesophageal cancer, please watch the video that was created in cooperation with Hirslanden, the basis for this video was my idea and my concept.