Background/Aims: Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is a novel procedure for the treatment of achalasia and spastic esophageal disorders. Experience with POEM is limited, but its reported outcomes are excellent. It is deemed safe even for patients with prior interventions. Methods: This retrospective review included patients who underwent POEM at a tertiary US center. POEM was performed in a multidisciplinary approach by advanced endoscopists and foregut surgeons. Clinical success was defined as a post-POEM Eckardt score ≤3. Results: A total of 125 patients were included. Median follow-up period was 18 months (interquartile range, 10–22 months). Clinical success was achieved in 92% of patients and persisted at 12 months in 88% of patients. Mucosal barrier failure (MBF) occurred in 7 patients, 2 of whom required surgical intervention. MBF was more common in patients with prior laparoscopic Heller myotomy (19% vs. 3%, p=0.015). MBF requiring surgical intervention occurred early in the learning curve. Conclusions POEM is safe and effective in the treatment of achalasia and spastic esophageal disorders even after failed prior interventions.

Background/Aims: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine-needle aspiration is very effective for providing specimens for cytological evaluation. However, the ability to provide sufficient tissue for histological evaluation has been challenging due to the technical limitations of dedicated core biopsy needles. Recently, a modified EUS needle has been introduced to obtain tissue core samples for histological analysis. We aimed to determine (1) its ability to obtain specimens for histological assessment and (2) the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-guided fine-needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) using this needle. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed consecutive cases of FNB using modified EUS needles for 342 lesions in 303 patients. The cytology and histological specimens were analyzed. Diagnostic accuracy was calculated. Results: Adequate cytological and histological assessment was possible in 293/342 (86%) and 264/342 (77%) lesions, respectively. Diagnostic accuracy of the cytological specimen was 294/342 (86%) versus 254/342 (74%) for the histological specimen (p<0.01). Diagnostic accuracy of the combined cytological and histological assessment was 323/342 (94.4%), which was significantly higher than that of both histology alone (p<0.001) and cytology alone (p=0.001). Conclusions EUS-FNB with the modified EUS needle provided histologic tissue cores in the majority of cases and achieved excellent diagnostic accuracy with few needle passes.