Routine Versus Symptomatic Protein Pump Inhibitor Therapy for Prevention of Gastroesophageal Reflux After Per Oral Endoscopic Myotomy for Esophageal Achalasia

Per Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) is a treatment of choice for achalasia with an excellent safety and efficacy profile. There is a high rate of esophagitis related to gastroesophageal reflux following this procedure. There is no recommendation on the prescription of protein pump inhibitors (PPI) after the procedure and no study has studied the benefit of systematic prescription of PPI after POEM for achalasia. The study authors hypothesize that routine PPI prescribing post-POEM for 12 months would reduce the rate of esophageal acid exposure compared to a symptom-based prescribing strategy.