Neonatal cricopharyngeal achalasia--a case report

Primary neonatal cricopharyngeal achalasia due to a spastic cricopharyngeus muscle manifests itself with intractable feeding difficulties, nasal reflux, recurrent aspiration pneumonia and failure to thrive. There are very few reports of this condition in the literature. In the absence of anatomically demonstrable cause, these children are likely to be labelled as having an impairment of the central-nervous system. This in turn may result in long-term misery with ng-tube feeding, and eventually, the creation of a feeding gastrostomy. A minor operation-- cricopharyngeal myotomy-- has been shown to be safe and curative. It can be performed even if only limited preoperative diagnostic tools are available.