Innovative and Contemporary Interventional Therapies for Esophageal Diseases.

Esophageal surgery has become quite specialized, and both dedicated diagnostic and refined surgical techniques are required to deliver state-of-the-art care. The field has evolved to include endoscopic mucosal resection and radiofrequency ablation for early-stage esophageal cancer and minimally invasive esophagectomy with the reconstruction of a gastric conduit for carefully selected patients with esophageal cancer or those with "end-stage" esophagus from benign diseases. Reoperative esophageal surgery after esophagectomy deserves special mention given that these patients, with improved survival, are presenting years after esophagectomy with functional and anatomic disorders that sometimes require surgical intervention. Different diagnostic modalities are essential for assessing patients and planning surgical treatment. Recognizing early and late postoperative complications on imaging may expedite and improve patient outcomes. Finally, endoscopic management of achalasia with peroral endoscopic myotomy and the use of the LINX device for gastroesophageal reflux disease are highly effective and minimally invasive treatments that may reduce complications, costs, and length of hospital stay.

"STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN." Hepatic Portal Venous Gas: Time for Clinical Assessment!

Pneumatosis intestinalis and portal venous gas are findings usually associated with intra-abdominal surgical catastrophes that frequently require emergent surgical intervention. Herein we present a case of a patient who presented in septic shock, with extensive portal vein gas, diffuse intestinal wall thickening, and atherosclerotic vascular insufficiency in the absence of pneumatosis intestinalis. Given his advanced age, multiple comorbidities, magnitude of the initial findings, and his dramatic clinical response to aggressive fluid resuscitation, a cognitive decision was made to continue with nonoperative management. The patient recovered uneventfully and was discharged home in a stable condition.