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Carlos Puig Gilbert, M.D., Thoracic Surgeon: So achalasia is not a common condition. It happens roughly in one per 100,000 people, but here at Mayo Clinic, this is our expertise, so we tend to see a lot of it.

Achalasia is a condition where your esophagus doesn't move, doesn't squeeze to push food down. And in addition, where your esophagus meets the stomach, that area there is very tight.

So our approach to the management of achalasia includes both a surgical approach in a minimally invasive fashion, so small incisions in the abdomen, but also includes endoscopic or endoluminal approaches, meaning through the mouth only.

When we choose to manage achalasia with an endoscopic approach or it's called POEM or peroral endoscopic myotomy, essentially we treat this condition by going with a camera through your mouth, traveling down your esophagus and where we meet the area of tightening or narrowing because of a very thick muscle, then we cut that muscle and that's it.

So when patients come to us to manage their achalasia they're ready to be helped.

So why Rochester Minnesota? Why Mayo Clinic? It's not the weather you know it's the people. It's almost like they were born to help people and they want to do that at any time of the day they're willing to help with a smile; that's why Mayo Clinic.

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