Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Dec 16, 2017; 9(12): 590-593
Published online Dec 16, 2017. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v9.i12.590
Deanxit relieves symptoms in a patient with jackhammer esophagus: A case report
Jin-Ying Li, Wen-Huan Zhang, Chun-Ling Huang, Dang Huang, Guo-Wen Zuo, Lie-Xin Liang
Jin-Ying Li, Wen-Huan Zhang, Chun-Ling Huang, Dang Huang, Guo-Wen Zuo, Lie-Xin Liang, Department of Gastroenterology, People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Zuo GW designed the report; Li JY collected references and prepared the manuscript, with the help of Huang D; Zhang WH and Huang CL provided the figures; Zuo GW and Liang LX supervised the preparation of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: The patient involved in this study gave his written informed consent authorizing use and disclosure of his protected health information.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest.
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: Guo-Wen Zuo, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 6 Taoyuan Road, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. mdzuoguowen@163.com
Telephone: +86-771-2186007 Fax: +86-771-2186007
Received: August 27, 2017
Peer-review started: August 27, 2017
First decision: October 9, 2017
Revised: October 25, 2017
Accepted: November 11, 2017
Article in press: November 11, 2017
Published online: December 16, 2017
Processing time: 102 Days and 4.5 Hours
Abstract

Jackhammer (hypercontractile) esophagus presents with dysphagia and chest pain. Current treatments are limited. We describe a 60-year-old man who presented with dysphagia, chest pain and heartburn for a period of 1 year. His workup showed Barrett’s esophagus on endoscopy and high-resolution manometry demonstrated jackhammer esophagus with esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction. The patient was treated with proton pump inhibitor and nifedipine but without resolution of his symptoms. He was followed up to assess the efficacy of treatment with deanxit (flupentixol + melitracen). Dysphagia and chest pain resolved during the therapeutic trial and efficacy was maintained on maintenance treatment without troublesome side effects.

Keywords: High-resolution manometry; jackhammer esophagus; Deanxit; Therapy

Core tip: Low-dose antidepressants can improve patients’ reaction to the pain associated with esophageal dynamic disorders. The case report describes that deanxit (flupentixol + melitracen) has a positive effect on a new, rare disease, jackhammer esophagus, and speculates upon the potential relationship between mental factors and jackhammer esophagus.