Authors: Giorgos Papaspyrou Bernhard Schick Spyros Papaspyrou Susanne Wiegand Basel Al Kadah
Publish Date: 2015/01/08
Volume: 273, Issue: 1, Pages: 183-188
Abstract
Surgical intervention is the gold standard of treatment for Zenker’s diverticulum The aim of this study was to examine the role of laser surgery in a large number of patients with this pathological entity The data of 91 consecutive patients treated due to Zenker’s diverticulum with the aid of CO2 laser in three institutions Homburg/Saar and Marburg Germany/Athens Greece during the last 10 years were retrospectively analyzed Parameters examined were sex age preoperative symptoms length of operation and complications revision surgery necessity and degree of patient satisfaction All patients had a minimum followup of one year Dysphagia was the most common preoperative symptom 78 The most common minor complication was dental injury 66 but a serious complication in form of emphysema was observed in only two patients 22 A surgical revision was necessary in 8 88 of the treated patients The majority of treated patients was free of symptoms 868 or presented mild symptoms 99 one year after intervention and only three patients 33 were dissatisfied Our study shows that laser treatment of Zenker’s diverticulum is an efficient operative technique associated with low complications rates and significant improvement of patients’ symptoms in most of the examined cases
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