LINX surgery

[O2Trees]

Hello! I would be grateful to know of people's experience of LINX surgery. Also any details of who is suitable and what might rule you out - e.g. I have Barretts Oesophagus - and where in the UK you can get the surgery carried out.

Many thanks.

[Hidden]

I know that Ken Park at Aberdeen and Majid Hashemi at University College hospital in London have done a number of these operations. As I understand it the device has been approved to combat reflux that is not responsive to normal treatment, say, with PPI medication. I am not sure how many are done on the NHS. It is a magnetic bracelet that is placed round the lower oesophageal sphincter to keep a gentle pressure to keep the sphincter closed. I personally do not know any patients who have had the device fitted. These links are from the USA:

surgery.usc.edu/uppergi-gen...

surgery.usc.edu/uppergi-gen...

[O2Trees in reply to Hidden]

Many thanks Alan

[chrisrob]

LINX has been widely promoted in US as every time a clinic offers this "new" treatment it gets publicised in the press.

Barrett's is actually a contra-indicator for the treatment unless it's very small.

It costs twice as much as a fundoplication and all the surgeons I've spoken to about it have the same reservations as I have of possible migration and erosion of the oesophagus.

In the 70's a new device (called "Angelchik"), which was essentially a rubber band around the oesophagus, was very a popular treatment but 20 years down the line everyone was wanting them removed as they were causing erosion.

Whereas LINX is probably the best of the alternatives to fundoplication, there are concerns.

You will find pages about LINX and Angelchik on a website I am compiling (for a book) here:

sites.google.com/site/downw...

sites.google.com/site/downw...

[O2Trees]

Oh, thank you so much chris. I didn't know any of that.

Do you have a view on fundoplication? It seems quite a brutal answer to me.

Cheers, jean