Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0014848 (achalasia)
 2,804 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

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.
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PMID:Achalasia occurring years after acute poliomyelitis. 814 35

The aim of this paper is to describe a patient with severe postpolio problems who developed achalasia. A 66-year-old patient came to our observation for severe dysphagia. He had suffered from paralytic poliomyelitis at the age of 7 months and had severe residual deficits. At the age of 62 he presented with sudden pain localized in the distribution of the C4 and C5 dermatomes and an inability to abduct the left arm. At the time, he experienced only occasional and mild dysphagia; his esophagus was not dilated and emptied normally. Over the following months his muscular function improved, but dysphagia worsened. We found a megaesophagus with a sigmoid appearance and the manometric features of achalasia. Pneumatic dilatation produced good resolution of dysphagia. A year later manometry showed the reappearance of peristalsis after all wet swallows. In patients with postpolio dysphagia, the possible presence of achalasia must be considered.
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PMID:Achalasia. A possible late cause of postpolio dysphagia. 861 25