title: Long-term follow-up of endoscopic stapled diverticulotomy.
abstract: We report a consecutive series of 31 patients who underwent endoscopic stapled diverticulotomy. The patients' notes were reviewed retrospectively to gather data on their original admission and a postal survey was conducted to establish patient satisfaction, their ability to swallow and re-operation data. Three patients were lost to follow-up. Nine of the remaining 28 died at a median of 18 months. The remaining 21 were followed up for a median of 59 months. The data showed that, at 5 years, 94.4% of patients had an improvement in their swallowing, and 50% had an entirely normal swallow. In order to achieve this result, 19% of patients required a second procedure, and one patient (3.2%) required a third (open) procedure. Endoscopic stapled diverticulotomy has well-established, short-term advantages. This series shows that it has a good long-term outcome that is similar to established open techniques and probably better than other techniques of endoscopic diverticulotomy, i.e. diathermy or laser.
authors: University Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK. paul@paulcounter.demon.co.uk
authors: P R
authors: PR
authors: Counter
authors: M L
authors: ML
authors: Hilton
authors: D L
authors: DL
authors: Baldwin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017792:Surgical Stapling / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016672:Zenker Diverticulum / Q000601:surgery*