Friday, May 18th, 2012

State-of-the-art procedure helps cure man’s acid reflux

Retired Calumet Park police Sgt. Greg Jones would often wake up in the middle of the night “drowning” in his stomach acids.

“I would just wake up in the middle of the night choking, and it scared the heck out of me,” Jones, of Tinley Park, said.

For more than a decade the 57-year-old father, now working as a security guard, had experienced food and stomach acid damaging the lining of his esophagus. It would eventually lead to Barrett’s Esophagus, a condition in which, after years of exposure to stomach acids, the lining of the esophagus is replaced with a cell type associated with esophageal cancer.

Jones needed to do something.

In February, Jones’ gastroenterologist, Felipe Gracias, recommended he undergo a new procedure that allows the surgeon to go in through the mouth and reinforce the valve between the esophagus and the stomach. Unlike in the past, no incision is required. The Transoral Fundoplication, or TIF procedure, has been done for about three years and clinical trials have found the results to be long lasting and life changing.

“Right now we’re trying to treat patients who are having quality-of-life issues,” Gracias said. “(The procedure) is unobtrusive in their lives, and we’re able to document now about an 80 percent chance that they can come off medications all together.”

Gracias and colleague Ramon Manglano both perform the TIF procedure at Metro South Medical Center’s Heartburn Clinic in Blue Island.

They are the only doctors in the Southland to perform it and have pioneered a “hybrid” operation that combines TIF with a traditional laparoscopic (small-incision) hiatal hernia repair. The result is a minimally invasive procedure that at once
treats two major causes of acid reflux.

Smaller hernias also can be treated during the TIF procedure so no incision is needed.

“I think that’s really what I’m most proud of is that we’re able to bring patients to that transoral approach who normally wouldn’t be candidates,” Gracias said.

Patients must remain on a liquid-only diet for several weeks after the procedure and don’t return to a completely normal diet for a couple months.

Still, Gracias said the overall recovery time is much faster — it only requires a one-night stay at the hospital and may even some day become an outpatient procedure. Getting patients off acid-blocking medication is also a big plus, particularly as insurance companies are getting pickier about the medications they’ll cover.

“It’s amazing how many patients in Illinois, lifelong, are having to take these acid blockers,” Gracias said.

Himself included. Gracias said he is planning to get the TIF procedure and jokes that he wishes he could perform it on himself with a mirror.

As for Jones, he is now living acid-free, and his wife tells him he’s even snoring less.

“I can’t praise Dr. Gracias enough. He did a good job. He did a real good job,” he said. “To go from waking up choking on acid to not having acid at all is amazing.”

Though Jones said the restricted diet was difficult, he added that he was able to eat his first steak this past weekend as his family celebrated his daughter’s graduation with a master’s degree.

“It was great,” he said.