title: Congenital achalasia: facts and fantasies.
abstract: Achalasia, a poorly relaxing lower esophageal sphincter, produces a functional obstruction and the expected symptoms of dysphagia, regurgitation and eventually weight loss. The cause of achalasia remains largely unknown in Western countries, Chagas' disease being the most frequent etiology in Brazil. We report on two sets of monozygotic male twins with typical manifestations of achalasia. The majority of authors attribute a limited contribution unless achalasia is related to a multisystem disorder, like the triple-A or Allgrove's syndrome, an autosomal recessive disease characterized by the triad of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) resistant adrenal insufficiency, achalasia and alacrima. The four cases reported demonstrated the genetic influence of achalasia in patients without multisystem disorders. We believe that idiopathic achalasia is a syndrome with similar clinical, pathological, radiological and manometric evolution, but with a great variety of etiological agents, one of them being the congenital form.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital das Clínicas - University of São Paulo Medical School, Brazil. brunozilb@uol.com.br
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zilberstein
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Cleva
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gama-Rodrigues
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000151:congenital / Q000235:genetics*; D004931:Esophageal Achalasia / Q000151:congenital / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged