title: From Heller to POEM (1914-2014): a 100-year history of surgery for Achalasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of Dr. Heller's description of the surgical treatment of patients with achalasia with a cardiomyotomy. This 100-year-old operation, which is today performed laparoscopically with the addition of a partial fundoplication, is considered the treatment of choice for patients with achalasia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our goals are to revisit the accounts from the beginning of the twentieth century in which surgeons tried to identify the pathophysiology of achalasia and proposed several operative techniques and to follow the evolution of the surgical treatment until modern days.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Boston VA Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, 1400 VFW Parkway. West Roxbury, Boston, MA, 02132, USA, piero.fisichella@va.gov.
authors.forename: P Marco
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Fisichella
authors.forename: Marco G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Patti
mesh_terms: D000846:Anniversaries and Special Events; D004931:Esophageal Achalasia / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery; D018662:Fundoplication / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans