Clinical usefulness of esophagogastric junction distensibility measurement in patients with achalasia before and after peroral endoscopic myotomy

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to determine the clinical efficacy of measuring the esophagogastric junction (EGJ) distensibility index (DI) in patients with achalasia before and after peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective data were collected from 195 patients who underwent POEM from November 2014 to November 2017 at our clinic. The Eckardt score, high-resolution manometry, and EGJ distensibility were measured before and six months after POEM. Treatment failure was defined as a postprocedure Eckardt score >3 or patients who underwent repeat POEM. RESULTS: The DI (mm2/mmHg) before and after POEM was 3.42±3.55 and 11.57±6.64, respectively (p<0.01). There was no difference in the DI between achalasia subtypes I, II, and III (11.45±6.24 versus 15.49±11.53 versus 13.27±9.49, p=0.22) or previous treatment history (15.39±10.85 versus 11.10±7.25, p=0.20). The DI was higher in patients with reflux esophagitis after POEM, but the difference was not significant (13.59±7.15 versus 12.54±10.9, p=0.571). CONCLUSION: This study showed that EGJ distensibility measurement is useful to assess post-POEM outcomes. These findings suggest that the functional lumen imaging probe may be a useful method for assessing clinical efficacy of POEM in patients with achalasia. However, this is a costly procedure that requires experience.