Achalasia occurring years after acute poliomyelitis.

We present a case of a 19 year old female patient with dysphagia for 4 months. Radiologic, endoscopy and manometric examinations were compatible with the diagnosis of idiopathic achalasia. Clinical, epidemiologic and serologic investigation was negative for Chagas' disease. When she was three years old she had acute poliomyelitis that left muscular atrophy in her left leg. It is possible that lower esophageal sphincter achalasia was the consequence of lesion in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve caused by poliomyelitis. The association between poliomyelitis and achalasia supports the infective hypothesis as the cause of achalasia.