Swallowing Disorders, Latest and Best Treatments

Doctors are conducting their studies and research to determine the incidence of achalasia, which is one of the rare forms of swallowing disorders that prevent food from passing into the stomach, in the UAE and to find out if this percentage is higher than the global average, due to the increase in cases of this disease recorded within The state.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, the state-of-the-art healthcare facility affiliated to Mubadala Investment Company, has recorded a significant increase in the number of patients with achalasia since it began offering minimally invasive treatment two and a half years ago. The hospital’s surgeons confirm that they have treated 11 patients suffering from this disease, 9 of whom are Emirati, using transoral endoscopic resection and relaxation of the esophagus muscle, a procedure not available anywhere else in the Middle East.

Concerning the prevalence of this disease, Dr. Matthew Crowe, Head of the Digestive Diseases Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, said: “Relaxation of the esophagus is a rare condition that affects no more than one percent of people around the world. Therefore, the number of cases that we received in the hospital is considered high relative to the population here. I do not think there is information available about the true number of local infections with this disease, as is the case for many other rare diseases, but we hope that hospitals will focus their research on this issue to find out how widespread it is.”

Dr. added. Crowe: “Patients tend to get treatment abroad when they don't know it's available here, but now we're starting to provide this type of procedure in the country. Thus, providing these treatment services locally does not require patients to travel to other countries, and this leads to an increase in the number of patients who seek treatment here and gives a broader and more comprehensive picture of the rate of spread of the disease.”

It is noteworthy that Dr. Crowe first came to Abu Dhabi in 2015 when he was the Chief of Endoscopy at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio in the United States of America, and then performed the first endoscopic resection and relaxation of the esophageal muscle through the mouth in the Middle East. He now leads the growing demand team in the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

The esophageal muscle resection is done through the mouth through the endoscope, which is a long, thin and flexible tube that can be passed through the mouth or rectum and allows doctors to inspect the walls of the esophagus, stomach, intestine and colon without the need to make any holes in the chest or abdomen, thus making the hospital stay shorter. This technique was first invented in Japan and performed by doctors in the United States in the past few years. Currently, only a few medical centers in the United States, Asia and Europe are known to provide patients with swallowing disorders with this type of minimally invasive alternative treatment to conventional surgery by skilled endoscopic physicians.

It is worth noting that the Digestive Diseases Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi provides advanced medical and surgical care for digestive disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome and colorectal cancer. Other complex procedures offered by the institute include transoral pyloromyotomy for lazy stomach in late-stage diabetes patients and laparoscopic gastric stapling, a new procedure that aims to reduce the size of a patient's stomach without the need for incisions or transplant procedures.