Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) June 27, 2013
Esophageal surgeons at the Allegheny Overall health Network are amongst the first in the country to provide individuals who suffer from gastroesophageal reflux illness (GERD) a new minimally invasive therapy that research have shown can tremendously reduce the symptoms and linked risks of this common digestive disorder.

Referred to as the LINX Management Method, the process is the first non-health-related surgical therapy to be authorized for GERD by the Meals and Drug Administration in a lot more than three decades.

GERD is a chronic disease in which acidic stomach fluid refluxes into the esophagus. It is brought on by a weak reduce esophageal sphincter (LES), which is a valve-like muscle that regulates the passage of meals and liquid from the esophagus into the stomach. When gastric juices flow back into the esophagus, it can be severely damaged and lead to a host of unpleasant symptoms, which includes heartburn, chest discomfort, regurgitation, sore throat, and chronic cough.

It is estimated that 25-40% of American adults knowledge symptomatic GERD every single month, and 10-20% endure from it every day.

The LINX technique is a technologies created to prevent reflux by reinforcing the faulty reduced esophageal sphincter, mentioned Blair Jobe, M.D., Director of the Institute for the Remedy of Esophageal and Thoracic Illness at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. Dr. Jobe is now performing the process at West Penn and Canonsburg General Hospital, each members of the Allegheny Overall health Network.

Efficiently treating GERD with a surgical repair of the LES can not only boost sufferers high quality of life by eliminating symptoms, but it might also help to stop or stop serious related situations such as adult onset asthma, chronic cough, and esophageal inflammation and scar formation. Following undergoing the LINX process, sufferers will be able to remove the use of GERD drugs, Dr. Jobe said.

The LINX technique makes use of a tiny, flexible band of magnets enclosed in titanium beads to regulate a weak LES and mimic a natural barrier to reflux. The bracelet is placed about the base of the esophagus. When food or liquid passes by way of, the band expands. The magnetic bond then allows the beads to close right after swallowing, preventing gastric juices from refluxing back into the esophagus.

The LINX procedure is performed laparoscopically on an outpatient basis and generally takes 30 minutes to an hour to complete. Patients are placed beneath basic anesthesia.

Most sufferers completely recover from the process in about a week and can resume their standard diet program quickly afterward. Side effects are typically minimal and resolve more than time.

This unique procedure is a comparatively easy operation to perform which will hopefully lead to predictable and standardized optimistic outcomes and a dramatic improvement in quality of life, Dr. Jobe mentioned.

In a current clinical study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, of 100 men and women with GERD who underwent the LINX procedure, 92% accomplished considerable symptom improvement, 91% achieved freedom from daily medication, one hundred% eliminated severe regurgitation, and 94% have been happy with their all round situation.

Dr. Jobe said the demand for the procedure is increasing exponentially as far more patients find out about it. He mentioned great candidates for the LINX process are these diagnosed with GERD by way of pH testing and those who are dependent on health-related therapy or when healthcare therapy is no longer controlling the symptoms.

These who would like to discover more about the LINX program, speak with a patient who has undergone this process or make an appointment with Dr. Jobe can get in touch with (724) 260-7300.





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