, 2000, p. 2). The symptoms of achalasia include: difficulty swallowing, painful swallowing, frequent regurgitation of food and saliva, back pain, shoulder pain, shoulder pain, chest pain, and resultant weight loss. Heartburn is a common occurrence accompanying this disorder. Some other symptoms may include nighttime coughing and/or recurrent pneumonia. Individuals with achalasia may experience all or some of the symptoms. Along with the diagnosis of achalasia is a risk for esophageal cancer, though the likelihood is not great (less than 7%) (Robinson, R., p. 2).
The diagnosis of achalasia is made on an outpatient basis with the assistance of endoscopy. Under sedation, a doctor places a small tube through the mouth into the esophagus and stomach. The tube is attached to a video monitor which allows the doctor to look at these organs and identify any abnormalities such as reddening, ulcers, tumors, and/or muscular narrowing (called stricture) at the lower esophageal sphincter.
Another method of medical evaluation is by x-ray of the esophagus, which is taken while the patient is swallowing barium (Clayman, C., 1994, p. 490). This x-ray can disclose possible dis-coordinated muscular activity in the esophagus.
When testing for achalasia, a test called manometry may be used (Ferguson, M., 2000, p. 3). During this test, a small tube is inserted into the patient's nose and passed into the stomach. As it gradually is removed, the patient is told to swallow sips of water. This swallowing motion allows the health care professional to measure the pressures inside the esophagus indicating a lack of contractions, increased closing pressure of the lower sphincter, as well as incomplete opening of the sphincter when the patient swallows. .
Once diagnosed, achalasia can be treated successfully. The purpose of treatment is to get the lower esophageal sphincter to open more easily. To date, there are no known medications available to successfully treat this disorder; however, there are three methods of treatment, which have been used to relieve the symptoms (Ferguson, M.
