Device alleviates acid reflux

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Casey Donahoe was no more than 10 when he began experiencing the bitter taste of stomach acid in the back of his throat.

Donahoe had GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, but it wasn’t diagnosed until he was a sophomore quarterbacking his high-school football team. That’s when a physician, the father of a teammate, spotted him drinking freely from a bottle of the over-the-counter antacid Mylanta at a game and asked why.

“I got into his office, found out what it was and started treating it [with prescription drugs] from there,” said Donahoe, now 24, of White Oak, Pa.

Still, despite the drugs, total relief eluded him until this past April, when he underwent a surgical procedure that is still in a clinical trial being conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Since Dr. Jim Luketich implanted the LINX Reflux Management System, Donahoe has felt like the proverbial new man.

“I feel great, like there was nothing done,” said Donahoe, who is finally eating anything he wants after years of denying himself such loves as grapefruit and orange juice. “I would highly recommend it. After several years [of suffering], to be in pain for a couple of hours [after surgery], it’s well worth it.

“I had acid reflux really bad the morning of the surgery. When I woke up, it was gone.”

The system is being tested at 15 sites across the nation and two more in Europe. It is a braceletlike device comprising magnetic titanium beads that wraps around and fortifies the lower esophageal sphincter, the valve that connects the esophagus to the stomach. When the valve doesn’t close tightly it leaks stomach acid, and reflux occurs.

Why it happens is a question with multiple answers, said Luketich, director of UPMC’s Heart, Lung and Esophageal Surgery Institute.

“Some foods or medications can cause it to leak, and you fill it too full of food, overeating of anything, it can be bad,” he said. “One of the risk factors ... is obesity; it puts too much pressure on the valve. Some thin people get it and there may be a hereditary factor. But there’s smoking, chewing tobacco, eating fatty foods, drinking two pots of coffee a day. There are things we do that are not good for the valve or the esophagus.

“Most of the time [GERD] can be managed without surgery,” he added. “You can lose weight, give up coffee, reduce stress in your life.

“If that doesn’t work, then you can take [over-the-counter] medications like Tums or Maalox, and if those don’t work, then you go to a [prescription] drug like Nexium.”

If they don’t work, or if they cause bad side effects, or if your insurance won’t cover the cost, then you might want to consider surgery, Luketich added.