title: Surgical outcome in 87 patients with Zenker's diverticulum.
abstract: Surgical treatment of Zenker's diverticulum is controversial because many different procedures exist. We retrospectively reviewed 87 consecutive patients surgically treated for Zenker's diverticulum at a tertiary care institution from 1976 through 1993. Four surgical procedures were performed: cricopharyngeal myotomy alone (n = 16), excision (hand-sewn) plus myotomy (n = 51), excision (stapler) plus myotomy (n = 11), and diverticulopexy plus myotomy (n = 9). There were three surgical mortalities (3.5%) and a complication rate of 24%. Eighty patients (92%) were available for follow up. Sixty-eight patients (78%) reported excellent relief of symptoms, 10 (13%) reported improvement with occasional symptoms, and two (3%) described persistent dysphagia. No statistical difference in complication rate was found among surgical groups (P = 0.15). Myotomy alone patients had worse outcomes (P = 0.04) compared with the other surgical groups. Median follow-up was 7.5 months.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Disorders, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio 44195, U.S.A.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bonafede
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lavertu
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eliachar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016672:Zenker Diverticulum / Q000601:surgery*