Pharyngeal pouch surgery: a five year review

The treatment of pharyngeal pouch varies widely. Our aim was to establish current and recent practice in pharyngeal pouch surgery in our department and set guidelines for future management. A retrospective audit over a 5-year period was performed with all data derived from patient notes. 28 procedures were performed on 24 patients with a mean age of 72 years. Over two thirds of these patients (68%) underwent an endoscopic procedure (stapling or diathermy) and the remainder underwent excision (14%), inversion (10%), cricopharyngeal myotomy (4%) or dilatation (4%). The primary diagnostic investigation performed was a barium swallow in 17 cases, but in 7 cases, referred by gastroenterologists, an oesophagogastroscopy was performed despite characteristic presenting features in all cases. The average inpatient stay was similar for endoscopic and excision procedures (5.5 and 5 days respectively), but longer for inversion procedures (9 days). This was influenced mainly by operative complications. 2 endoscopic stapling procedures were complicated by perforations and 1 patient developed hoarseness after an inversion procedure. The mean follow up time was one month at which stage all asymptomatic patients were discharged. 2 patients treated by endoscopic stapling and 1 patient treated by inversion complained of persistent symptoms and required further surgery. We conclude that endoscopic stapling was the commonest procedure used. Concerning future management, the use of nasogastric tubes after uncomplicated stapling procedures was abandoned. Also it was felt that large pouches should be treated by excision, small pouches by cricopharyngeal myotomy and the remainder by endoscopic stapling. The long-term evaluation of results was also deemed necessary.