Doctors Test Device To Stop Severe Heartburn

There are six times more cancers of the esophagus reported today than there were 20 years ago, and acid reflux is often to blame.

Minnesota doctors are working hard to put a lid on severe heartburn, which is responsible for one of the fastest-growing cancers in our country.

Food is supposed to be our friend, but for some, it becomes the enemy.

"Anything and everything I ate, it just came right back up my esophagus," said Debbie Dearborn. "It would burn in my throat."

Dearborn was among the 20 million Americans struggling with acid reflux bad enough to require daily medication. She endured a nightly struggle as well.

"I lost a lot of sleep over the years," Dearborn said. "I mean, a lot of sleep, because I would have to sleep partially sitting up at night time."

Dr. Bob Ganz, the chief of Minnesota Gastroenterology's Esophageal Center, said Dearborn has GERD, or Gastroesphogeal Reflux Disease. The muscles at the top of her stomach were not tight enough to keep the contents in.

Severe heartburn becomes the least of one's worries when you see the damage stomach acids do over time to the lining of the esophagus, which is a condition called Barret's esophagus.

Esophageal cancer is deadly. Roughly six out of seven victims die within five years of diagnosis.

Recently, doctors have been able to reduce the cancer risk by removing the dangerous tissue with heat. While this restores a healthier esophagus, the faulty valve is still a threat.

Twin Cities surgeon Dr. Dan Dunn is one of the doctors evaluating a way to fix the problem permanently. The solution is called the Torax Linx, which is a small bracelet of magnetic beads placed around the lower esophageal sphincter, just above the stomach.

"This is meant to be a more physiologic way to mimic your own sphincter," Dunn said.

Done laparoscopically, the procedure to implant the device is minimally-invasive and takes less than an hour. Patients go home the next day and are urged to eat nearly anything they want.

Ganz said unraveling why a patient has reflux can be a complicated process, because it could involve everything from diet to lifestyle to physiology. The new technology can measure the muscles responsible for every swallow a person takes and allows doctors to do a topographic pressure analysis.

Ganz said pressure on the stomach itself increases with excess abdominal fat, and adds that the incidence of GERD has soared right along with the rising epidemic of obesity.

"When you eat more on a daily basis, your stomach starts to stretch out a little bit," Ganz said. "The area where the esophagus meets the stomach starts to stretch out."

Dearborn was accepted into the Torax Linx clinical trial and less than a month after her surgery, she feels like a new person.

"I'm perfectly new again," she said. "I'm just, I'm really impressed. I'm really happy I had this surgery done, very very happy."

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