RefluxStop™ Therapy - a New Minimally Invasive Technology in Anti-reflux Surgery

The symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are very common, but cannot be reliably controlled with medication, as more than 40% of patients suffer troublesome symptoms more than twice a week even when taking maximum doses of proton pump inhibitors (PPI). Until recently, the only surgical option was anti-reflux surgery, usually performed as a hiatal hernia repair and some form of fundoplication. While this is still the gold standard, some centers note high recurrence rates and/or high rates of side effects such as dysphagia, bloating, and post-prandial discomfort. This paper describes a new surgical procedure that controls reflux symptoms through hiatal hernia repair in combination with the implantation of a silicone cube. The cube is implanted near the left side of the esophagus above the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The details of the procedure, the indications for this new approach, the initial results, and the rate of side effects compared to Nissen fundoplication are described. Implantation of the CE-certified RefluxStop™ (Implantica, Zug, Switzerland) has been used for 3 years and the initial studies show encouraging success rates. In addition, side effects are significantly reduced. These results must be evaluated in further studies.