Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
What are my treatment options?
In addition to dietary controls, you and your doctor have options including pharmaceuticals, surgical options, and TIF, an incisionless surgical solution.
Pharmaceuticals:
While pharmaceuticals alleviate the symptoms, they don’t solve the underlying anatomical problem and generally don’t stop disease progression. Over time you may need to increase your dosage and, like many GERD sufferers, it may mean taking medication for the rest of your life. What’s more, recent major studies on the adverse effects of long-term use of PPIs show increased risk of bone fractures.
Conventional surgical options:
Invasive surgical procedures have long been known to be an effective long-term solution to treating GERD. During the surgery, the valve is reconstructed by wrapping the upper portion of the stomach around the esophagus.
Incisionless TIF procedure (with the EsophyX device):
Based on may years of proven surgical concepts and techniques, TIF is the first incisionless NOS (Natural Orifice Surgery) procedure to emulate gold-standard conventional surgery procedures.
TIF is appropriate for GERD sufferers:
- Dissatisfied with pharmaceutical therapies
- Experiencing heartburn or non-heartburn symptoms of GERD
To find a Memorial physician, call Memorial Physician Referral Service toll-free at (800) 944-DOCS. We're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.