Houston Methodist Sugar Land Now Offering Incisionless Surgery to Treat Swallowing Issues

Patients with a disorder of the esophagus that makes swallowing difficult now have a local option for advanced endoscopic surgery that can provide relief. Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital surgeon Aman Ali, M.D., recently performed the first-ever peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) procedure in Fort Bend County to treat a patient with achalasia, a disorder caused by nerve damage to the esophagus. People with achalasia have difficulty swallowing food and liquids and often will regurgitate undigested food. Without treatment, achalasia becomes progressively worse and can be life-threatening, because it increases the risk of choking or pneumonia from aspiration of food into the lungs.