Long-term functional results after endoscopic cricopharyngeal myotomy with CO2 laser: a retrospective study of 32 cases.

Endoscopic cricopharyngeal myotomy (ECPM) with CO(2) laser is indicated in cases with swallowing disorders when a dysfunction of the cricopharyngeal muscle is diagnosed. We present the results of a retrospective study including 32 of the 65 consecutive patients who underwent ECPM in our center between 2002 and 2009. The aim of this study is to evaluate the postoperative complications and complaints, the improvement of swallowing after surgery, the global satisfaction of the surgery and the swallowing improvement according to the deglutition handicap index (DHI). No major postoperative complication was reported. Postoperative pain was present in 46.9 % of the patients and estimated on an analog scale at 4.4/10. For the others, this surgery was painless. Improvement in swallowing liquids was present in 75 % of the patients and 81 % of the patients could swallow solids. The overall patients' satisfaction on a scale of 10 was 7.2; if needed, 83.9 % of the patients would do the surgery again. Concerning the DHI, we report a significant improvement of all items except the last one. ECPM is a safe procedure which provides improvement of symptoms and satisfaction for the majority of patients.