Timed barium oesophagram: better predictor of long term success after pneumatic dilation in achalasia than symptom assessment

摘要

Background: Symptom relief post pneumatic dilation is traditionally used to assess treatment success in achalasia patients. Recently, we showed that symptom relief and objective oesophageal emptying are concordant in about 70% of patients, while up to 30% of achalasia patients report near complete symptom relief despite poor oesophageal emptying of barium.