Gastro Esophageal Reflux occurs when stomach acid splashes back through the lower esophageal sphincter into the esophagus. Highly acidic in nature, the stomach acid irritates the esophagus causing pain and discomfort. This discomfort manifests itself as heartburn, or in severe cases, as chest pains. A prolonged exposure to stomach acid will damage the esophagus and can contribute to other esophageal ailments such as Barrett's Esophagus.
Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease, the repeated occurrence of gastro esophageal reflux, stems from an incompetent Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES), one that has begun to inadequately close. No longer does the failing lower sphincter prevent stomach acid from splashing back into the esophagus as would a properly functioning lower sphincter. Instead, as digestion in the stomach progresses, the acid required to break down the stomach's contents refluxes, unrestricted by the lower esophageal sphincter, into the lower esophagus during each digestive cycle.
Both non-surgical and surgical methods of treatment are available to attempt to provide relief from the disease. Medications that diminish or even eliminate the acidic secretions in the stomach can be proscribed and administered to treat the sphincter dysfunction. While these medications may provide short term relief, they do not address the underlying problem of the malfunctioning sphincter. Surgery, another available treatment, seeks to address the underlying problem. One available surgical procedure, fundoplication, involves wrapping the fundus of the stomach around, and to, the lower esophageal sphincter in support of the sphincter. More specifically, as digestion begins to take place, gases begin to develop in the stomach. The amount and volume of gas increases as digestion progresses. Eventually, enough gas is present in the stomach to inflate and expand the fundus. Now wrapped around the esophagus, as the fundus inflates and expands it places pressure on the lower sphincter in support of the sphincter's complete closure. As the digestive cycle concludes the gases in the stomach subside and the closing pressure on the sphincter dissipates, once again allowing the sphincter to open.
Fundoplication has proven to be an effective method of treatment but not without some cost and risks. When the operation is performed, through an incision in the abdominal cavity (illustrated at 120 in FIG. 1), it is a significant one, often requiring one week of hospital stay and four to six weeks of additional recovery. Moreover, being performed in the abdominal cavity, the operation carries along with it the usual risks of abdominal surgery as well as the intraoperative risks associated with working near the esophagus and the cardia.
Other methods of performing a fundoplication are also known. For example, laproscopic procedures have been used to perform the operation. Here, rather than making an incision in the abdominal cavity, several surgical cannulas are inserted into the abdomen in various places. The surgery is then performed through these cannula portals by the surgeon as opposed to through a large incision in the abdominal cavity as would be utilized in a full abdominal fundoplication. Once completed, the recovery time from this process involves several days of hospital stay and a week or more of outpatient recovery time.
In another known approach, endoluminal procedures are used in conjunction with an abdominal incision to perform a fundoplication. Here, an invagination device containing several retractable needles is inserted into the mouth and down the esophagus to be used in conjunction with a manipulation and stapling device remotely inserted through an opening in the abdominal cavity. The fundoplication is performed by these devices with fasteners being employed to secure the fundus into its new position. In addition to requiring an abdominal breech, this procedure utilizes surgical staples that, due to the highly acidic nature of stomach acid, have not proven to be completely effective over time. Exposed to the stomach acid the staples can erode away thereby requiring a second identical procedure be performed. Other approaches also exist, but these too contain the same disadvantages—additional incisions, or mechanical fasteners susceptible to erosion from the stomach acid, or both.
It would, therefore, be desirable to have an apparatus and method for performing fundoplication wherein no additional incisions into the body would be required and wherein the risk of the fundus becoming dislodged due to the undermining of the integrity of the surgical fasteners would be diminished.