Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2015; 21(4): 1167-1172
Published online Jan 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i4.1167
Long-term outcome and quality of life after transoral stapling for Zenker diverticulum
Luigi Bonavina, Alberto Aiolfi, Federica Scolari, Davide Bona, Andrea Lovece, Emanuele Asti
Luigi Bonavina, Alberto Aiolfi, Federica Scolari, Davide Bona, Andrea Lovece, Emanuele Asti, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Division of General Surgery, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, 20097 Milano, Italy
Author contributions: Bonavina L designed the study; Aiolfi A, Scolari F and Bona D drafted the manuscript; Aiolfi A, Bona D, Scolari F, Lovece A and Asti E collected and analyzed the data; Bonavina L and Aiolfi A edited the final manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Luigi Bonavina, Professor, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Division of General Surgery, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Piazza E Malan 2, San Donato Milanese, 20097 Milano, Italy. luigi.bonavina@unimi.it
Telephone: +39-2-52774621 Fax: +39-2-52774622
Received: March 22, 2014
Peer-review started: March 24, 2014
First decision: April 28, 2014
Revised: May 2, 2014
Accepted: November 8, 2014
Article in press: November 11, 2014
Published online: January 28, 2015
Processing time: 310 Days and 19.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Transoral stapling was introduced 20 years ago as an alternative to standard open cricopharyngeal myotomy and diverticulectomy for the treatment of Zenker diverticulum. Long-term results after this operation have seldom been reported and quality of life data are lacking. Between 2001 and 2013, 100 patients underwent transoral stapling under general anesthesia. Perioperative variables, symptoms, long-term outcome, and quality of life were analyzed. The median follow-up was longer than 5 years. The success rate of the operation was significantly greater in patients of 70 years of age or older compared to younger individuals. All items of the health related quality of life questionnaire were significantly higher compared to baseline.