Japanese expert conducts innovative procedure for Achalasia at DLSUMC

MANILA, Philippines - For many, meal times are like an oasis in the desert that they look forward to with pleasure especially after hours of hard work.

This has not been the case for Josefa Caponpon, a mother and factory worker, who, for the past five years, has been suffering from a rare condition called Achalasia. 

This disease causes difficulty in swallowing, where patients feel like food is stuck in the esophagus. Consequently, such an event can cause coughing and choking on food.

Since the onset of her symptoms, Caponpon has seen various doctors, trying to find remedy. Initially she was diagnosed with acid reflux for which she took various medications, which unfortunately, did not help her much.

She went to more doctors before she finally met one who instructed her to go through the Barium Swallow Test, through which she was finally diagnosed with Achalasia, which according to Hopkins Medicine is a “rare disorder with about eight to 12 people per 100,000 diagnosed.”

According to experts, Achalasia is the failure to relax muscles toward the end of the swallowing tube or esophagus, thus disrupting the passage of swallowed food.

With her diagnosis, Caponpon was informed that she needed to undergo dilatation that would set her back for P20,000. The fact that this was rather steep for a factory worker’s salary was not the worst news for her. She also learned that the procedure would only give her temporary relief and that she needed to go through another dilatation after two or three years.

And then Caponpon was referred to Dr. Grace Santi, a gastroenterologist from De La Salle University Medical Center (DLSUMC). Santi, together with her father, Dr. Ricardo Santi, was spearheading a demonstration workshop on Per-Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) at DLSUMC, where Dr. Haruhiro Inoue and assistant professor Hirotomi Minami of the Digestive Disease Center of Showa University Endoscopy Northern Yokohama Hospital in Yokohama, Japan were slated to demonstrate this innovative procedure that permanently corrects Achalasia. The technique was developed by Inoue himself.

Thus, Caponpon became the first Achalasia patient in the Philippines to have gone through the POEM technique.

The procedure was successfully done last Jan. 24 at DLSUMC by Inoue himself, assisted by Minami and Santi.

The procedure was witnessed by 20 doctors from various hospitals. Inoue also discussed the technique and how it can help in the early diagnosis of asegastrointestinal cancers during a lecture before 150 doctors and medical students at the auditorium of De La Salle Health Sciences Institute’s College of Medicine.

As for Caponpon, only four days after the procedure, she was eating and enjoying crackers, without fear of reflux and choking. Now, she can look forward to meal times with as much pleasure as other people do, thanks to Inoue and Santi who brought to the Philippines the answer to her malady after having gone through a training program in Japan under Inoue himself.