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Query: UMLS:C0010200 (cough)
 23,843 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Optimum surgical management of the hypopharyngeal diverticulum is controversial. The authors discuss 48 consecutive patients (average age 72.1 years) with documented hypopharyngeal diverticula who were treated by cricopharyngeus myotomy, leaving the diverticula in situ. All came to the hospital with dysphagia; other symptoms included postdeglutitive cough, regurgitation, aspiration, and weight loss. Seven patients had had previous surgery for a Zenker's diverticulum with recurrence. Aspiration pneumonia was treated in 9 patients; 28 patients had concurrent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cardiovascular disease. Thirty-nine patients had cricopharyngeus myotomy under local anesthesia, 5 had cricopharyngeus myotomy under general endotracheal anesthesia, and 4 patients underwent myotomy with a cervical esophagostomy. There was one mortality (2.1%) and no incidence of postoperative bleeding, sepsis, or cranial nerve injury. Follow-up was done with 30 patients via telephone an average of 64 months after operation. Twenty-one of 30 patients reported excellent relief of symptoms, 5 reported improvement with occasional symptoms, and 4 patients described persistent dysphagia. Cricopharyngeus myotomy under local anesthetic is a safe and effective approach to the patient with a hypopharyngeal diverticulum. The awake patient can swallow on command, which enables the surgeon to identify the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) and to perform an accurate, complete myotomy. The absence of a pharyngeal suture line eliminates the risk of leakage and mediastinal sepsis, and allows early, postoperative feeding and discharge.
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PMID:Treatment of Zenker's diverticula by cricopharyngeus myotomy under local anesthesia. 148 6

Twenty patients with a remote history of poliomyelitis and recent or progressive dysphagia were evaluated with cinefluorography. Radiographic abnormalities were present in the pharynx in varying degrees in all but one of the patients. Findings included atrophy of the prevertebral soft tissues, unilateral or bilateral weakness of the tongue or soft palate, paresis or paralysis of the pharyngeal constrictor muscle, incomplete or absent epiglottic tilt, poor laryngeal elevation, poor laryngeal closure with laryngeal penetration, aspiration (often without a cough), and luminal narrowing at the cricopharyngeal level. Other structural lesions included a Zenker diverticulum in one patient, bilateral pharyngeal pouches in five, and a unilateral pouch in one. Additional structural lesions contributing to dysphagia were found in two other patients, including a focal stricture in the cervical esophagus in one patient and two stenotic rings in the distal esophagus in another. In four patients (one of whom had the Zenker diverticulum), the inferior constrictor muscle contracted forcibly above a prominent cricopharyngeus muscle, perhaps contributing to the formation of the diverticulum. It is important to examine postpolio patients with dysphagia carefully with dynamic imaging to assess the severity of decompensation and to detect other lesions that may be treatable. The information derived can be used to guide management.
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PMID:Swallowing dysfunction in the postpolio syndrome: a cinefluorographic study. 172 82

Zenker's diverticulum has been associated with a variety of symptoms such as dysphagia, regurgitation, aspiration, halitosis, and occasionally cough. In this case, a large Zenker's diverticulum containing a bezoar caused a persistent, debilitating cough presumably due to compression of adjacent neck structures.
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PMID:Zenker's bezoar. 759 81

History taking is the first step in the evaluation of a patient. An analysis of the information obtained provides the basis for the choice and order of diagnostic tests. In addition, it provides the clinician with the necessary information to determine the relevance of "abnormal tests" to the patient's problem. Dysphagia is a reliable symptom that indicates an abnormality in the swallowing mechanism. The history should contain a detailed description of the symptoms associated with dysphagia from the onset. Especially relevant are questions to determine if dysphagia is experienced every day or intermittently, with solid food or liquids or both, as well as presence and timing of associated symptoms such as, choking, coughing and regurgitation, changes in speech, heartburn and chest pain. It is clinically useful to divide swallowing into three phases: oral, pharyngeal and esophageal. Oral dysphagia is usually due to a neurologic disorder, decreased salivary flow or painful oropharyngeal lesions. Pharyngeal dysphagia is most frequently caused by neuromuscular disorders and less frequently by a Zenker's diverticulum, neoplasm or a mucosal web. Esophageal dysphagia is caused by a structural narrowing, such as produced by a peptic stricture, neoplasm or a Schatzki's ring or by a primary motility abnormality, such as achalasia or diffuse esophageal spasm or by motility abnormalities produced by inflammation caused by gastroesophageal reflux, medication-induced esophageal ulceration or infectious esophagitis.
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PMID:Art and science of history taking in the patient with difficulty swallowing. 846 26

The surgical treatment of Zenker diverticulum relieves dysphagia, coughing, and aspiration in nearly all patients. An understanding of the physiological basis for cricopharyngeal myotomy and anatomical detail has contributed to the high success rate. Meticulous technique in this elderly patient group is essential to prevent complications.
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PMID:Zenker diverticulum. 979 Feb 15

The first case of posterior pharyngooesophageal diverticulum was published in 1764 by Ludlow. Zenker's name has been attributed to the diverticulum since his description of a series of patients in 1878. The aetiology and pathogenesis of Zenker's diverticulum are not well understood. Research has mainly focused on the role of the upper oesophageal sphincter, but numerous manometric studies have produced controversial results. Also, the influence of gastrooesophageal reflux on the upper oesophageal sphincter and the development of a diverticulum is unclear. Patients with a Zenker's diverticulum typically present with a long history of slowly progressive dysphagia for solid consistencies and regurgitation of undigested food. Weight loss and nocturnal attacks of coughing may bother the patient. The diagnosis of a diverticulum needs to be confirmed by radiologic examination. The only definite therapy is surgery. The classical extramucosal cricopharyngeal myotomy by transcervical approach, with or without removal of the diverticular sac, is increasingly giving way to transmucosal myotomy through a transoral endoscopic approach. Compared to the transcervical approach the endoscopic technique avoids the risk of injuring the recurrent laryngeal nerve, substantially lowers the number of pharyngeal fistulas and, in large series, showed an equivalent outcome as far as relief of symptoms is concerned. In the light of the literature and our own experience diverticulooesophagostomy with the Endo-GIA stapler by a transoral endoscopic approach has become the therapy of choice at the ENT-Department of the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland. In an operating time of only 10-15 minutes the stapler cuts the wall between the diverticular sac and the oesophagus, and in the same manoeuvre closes the mucosal wound edges with tiny staples. Oral feeding is possible from the first postoperative day. With the technique described this elderly population of patients obtains rapid and safe relief of symptoms.
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PMID:[Zenker's diverticulum]. 1084 75

Two techniques for treatment of Zenker's diverticulum, endoscopic stapler-assisted esophagodiverticulostomy and open cricopharyngeal myotomy by transcervical approach, were compared with regard to patient satisfaction and quality of life. Between January 1994 and December 2004 a total of 47 patients with Zenker's diverticulum underwent surgery in our department. Besides the usual retrospective evaluation of details of surgery, all patients were sent a questionnaire on their actual complaints and quality of life according to the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI). Twenty patients had the endoscopic procedure (Group A), and 27 the open procedure (Group B). The preoperative symptoms were dysphagia in 96%, regurgitation of undigested food in 60%, cough in 19%, and pneumonia caused by recurrent aspiration in 9%. The length of surgery was on average 32 min (range 5-70 min) in Group A and 106 min (range 45-165 min) in Group B, and the length of hospital stay was 5.5 days (range 1-10 days) and 12.3 days (range 7-25 days), respectively. The results of the questionnaire showed that the preoperative symptoms had disappeared in up to 83%, and 91% in Group A and 100% in Group B would be willing to undergo surgery again. The mean GIQLI was 123 points in Group A and 118 points in Group B (healthy volunteers in the literature, 125 points). Both techniques showed good results in a long-term follow-up with regard to relief of symptoms and patient satisfaction. Both groups had an excellent Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index, comparable to that of a healthy standard population.
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PMID:Outcome and quality of life after open surgery versus endoscopic stapler-assisted esophagodiverticulostomy for Zenker's diverticulum. 1686 64

Zenker's diverticula commonly occur in the elderly, and quality of life is often impaired by typical symptoms such as dysphagia, regurgitation, halitosis, cough and aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition and weight loss. The "gold standard" treatment for pharyngo-oesophageal diverticula is the resection of the sac via left lateral cervicotomy and cricopharingeal myotomy. In the last decade, with the fast development of minimally invasive techniques, an endoscopic stapled approach has been proposed. This procedure rapidly encountered the favour of gastroenterologists because patients with Zenker's diverticulum often present serious co-morbidities and seem to benefit from the minimally invasive technique; but the crucial point in the treatment of Zenker's diverticula, in addition to the sac resection, is the myotomy of the cricopharyngeal muscle fibres and this could not be safely and completely achieved in endoscopic stapling owing to the risk of vascular lesions and incomplete sectioning of the sac. Moreover, many studies have reported similar results between open and endoscopic procedures in terms of postoperative morbidity and mortality, showing better functional outcomes in surgical patients even if elderly and presenting co-morbidities. In this report, the case of a 95 year-old patient, one of the oldest operated on for this disease and reported in the literature, is described. He was affected by a massive 8 cm Zenker's diverticulum and an oesophageal motility disorder (dyskinesia), with significant co-morbidity. Surgical diverticulectomy combined with cricopharyngeal myotomy was performed with excellent early and late results.
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PMID:Surgical treatment of a severe, massive, symptomatic Zenker's diverticulum in a very elderly patient. 1766 83

Zenker's diverticulum is a pulsion typed pharyngoeosophageal diverticle caused by the herniation of the pharyngeal mucosa, standing beside the posterior pharyngeal wall, through the Killian opening which is known as the weak area between the inferior constructor muscle's oblique fibres and transverse fibres of cricopharyngeal muscle. In patients with Zenker's diverticulum, symptoms such as disfagia, globus in the cervical area, weigh loss, regurgitation, cough, and aspiration. These patients are primarily admitted to the Gastroenterology and Othorhinolaryngology clinics with the complaint of disfagia and the diagnosis of this disease is mostly established late and the treatment is started late because the results of their physical examinations seem normal. Therefore, especially in the patients who have disfagia complaint, pharyngoeosophageal diverticle prediagnosis should be thought and that should be examined by passage graphies with barium and endoscopic methods, if needed. In this article, we presented the 67-year-old Zenker's diverticulum patient in whom we performed open diverticulectomy and posterior cricopharyngeal myotomy, and we specified the important points in choosing the patient and the type of surgery.
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PMID:[Zenker diverticulum: a case report]. 2003 Jun 1

A Zenker's or pharyngoesophageal diverticulum may represent a rare cause of upper digestive obstruction, or more often, cervical dysphagia, regurgitations and cough. It develops most often on the posterior left side of cervical oesophagus in elderly patients, and depending on the severity of clinical symptoms may warrant surgical or endoscopic treatment. For large lesions with a difficult endoscopic access to the diverticular neck, surgery is recommended. In our case, we illustrate a giant right-sided Zenker's diverticulum responsible for complete aphagia in a 78-year-old male patient. Open surgery by right cervical approach, with diverticulopexy and cricopharyngeal myotomy was performed, with an uneventful recovery. This paper presents with preoperative and intraoperative illustrations of high educational value for this, often underdiagnosed, clinical entity.
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PMID:Esophageal obstruction due to a right-sided Zenker diverticulum. 2948 80


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