Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 14, 2023; 29(22): 3497-3507
Published online Jun 14, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i22.3497
Per-oral endoscopic myotomy is safe and effective for pediatric patients with achalasia: A long-term follow-up study
Ya-Wei Bi, Xiao Lei, Nan Ru, Long-Song Li, Nan-Jun Wang, Bo Zhang, Yi Yao, En-Qiang Linghu, Ning-Li Chai
Ya-Wei Bi, Nan Ru, Long-Song Li, Nan-Jun Wang, Bo Zhang, Yi Yao, En-Qiang Linghu, Ning-Li Chai, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Xiao Lei, Senior Department of Oncology, The Fifth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100859, China
Author contributions: Bi YW, Lei X and Ru N contributed equally to this article; Bi YW, Lei X, Linghu EQ and Chai NL contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study; Bi YW, Lei X, Ru N, Li LS, Wang NJ, Zhang B and Yao Y did the data collection, literature review and analysis; Bi YW, Lei X and Ru N wrote the paper; all authors made the critical revision and editing of the article for important intellectual content, and approved the final version.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82070682.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital Institutional Review Board, No. 20230301.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ning-Li Chai, MD, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. chainingli@vip.163.com
Received: May 8, 2023
Peer-review started: May 8, 2023
First decision: May 11, 2023
Revised: May 12, 2023
Accepted: May 19, 2023
Article in press: May 19, 2023
Published online: June 14, 2023
Processing time: 30 Days and 4.9 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Achalasia is a rare disorder of the esophageal smooth muscle which cause dysphagia, regurgitation, chest pain and weight loss. In recent years, per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is emerging as a prefer treatment option for patients achalasia.

Research motivation

Although POEM was proved to be safe and efficacy for adult patients with achalasia, data of POEM in pediatric patients are limited.

Research objectives

To evaluate the safety and long-term efficacy of POEM for pediatric patients with achalasia.

Research methods

We performed a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the outcome of pediatric patients with achalasia who underwent POEM in comparison to the outcome of all adult patients who underwent POEM within the same period. To evaluate the safety of POEM, we compare the operation-related parameters and complications in the two groups. To evaluate the long-term efficacy of POEM, we compare the body mass index, clinical symptoms, quality of life in pediatric group before and after POEM; and we also compare those outcomes in pediatric group and matched adult group.

Research results

The risk of complications relating to POEM was not increased in pediatric patients, and the long-term efficacy of POEM in pediatric patients were similar to the results of adult group.

Research conclusions

POEM is safe treatment method and could achieve satisfactory long-term outcomes in pediatric patients.

Research perspectives

POEM can be an an effective treatment option for achalasia in pediatric patients.