Living in Eskişehir, 16-year-old Hüseyin Orhan has been struggling with eating and drinking problems for years. Having been examined at different hospitals for a long time and finally diagnosed with the disease ‘Achalasia’, which is seen in one in a million, Hüseyin Orhan was put under treatment at Eskişehir City Hospital. Having difficulty swallowing even the water he drinks for the last few months, Hüseyin Orhan was taken into surgery by Eskişehir City Hospital Pediatric Gastroenterology Specialist Dr. Duygu İskender Mazman. Orhan, who underwent an approximately 45-minute operation, underwent a balloon dilation method to expand his esophagus.
16-year-old Hüseyin Orhan, whose difficulty in swallowing disappeared after the operation, expressed his happiness at being able to eat comfortably and said, “The thing I want to eat the most right now is wraps. I could never eat wraps before, but now I can, I am very happy.”
“THE ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF DIAGNOSIS OF THIS DISEASE IS ONE IN A MILLION”
Eskişehir City Hospital Pediatric Gastroenterology Specialist Dr. Duygu İskender Mazman, who stated that the annual diagnosis average of the disease they detected in Hüseyin Orhan is one in a million, said, “The family told us that their child had eating problems for 8-10 years, had difficulty swallowing, and in the last few months had severe difficulty swallowing, could not even swallow liquids, was fed with very small bites, and the food came into his mouth, he had pain while swallowing, and felt stuck.
We did advanced tests. We diagnosed achalasia in our tests. Achalasia is a neurodegenerative disease of the esophagus. A narrowing occurs at the exit of the esophagus to the stomach. The normal harmonious functioning of the muscles here, such as eating, conduction and muscle relaxation, is disrupted. For this reason, food and drinks cannot be transmitted to the esophagus and stomach. Of course, some growth and developmental delays may accompany this in pediatric patients. We wanted to give our patient a chance here.
Normally, there are methods of treating that muscle by cutting it, but endoscopic balloon dilation can also be an option for children. We gave our patient this chance. We performed the balloon dilation in stages and for the first time since yesterday, he started to eat like a healthy person. We were also very happy that he was doing so well. This is not a common disease. We can say that the annual incidence of diagnosis is 1 in a million. In other words, the annual incidence of diagnosis is 0.1 to 0.18 in 100 thousand. This disease is a rare disease,” he said.
“HE WAS JUMPING TO SWALLOW HIS FOOD”
Mehmet Orhan, a 47-year-old father of 4 children, stated that his son, who is struggling with the disease ‘Achalasia’, which is seen in 1 in a million, jumped to swallow what he ate before the operation, and said, “Our son has not been able to swallow for about 10 years. He could not eat comfortably. The child could never even swallow water. It would not pass through his throat. He always had complaints such as heartburn and pain in his stomach. The last time it got worse was 1-2 months ago. He even slept a lot at home. We take him to the emergency room, they check but say there is nothing wrong. Finally, we made an appointment with Duygu Hanım and came. May Allah be pleased, she made the diagnosis and our son got better. Thank Allah.
My son should be around 50-52 kilos right now. The kid would get up from where he was sitting and walk around the house. He would jump from here to there to get through, sometimes he would jump over the couch. However, when he couldn’t get through that, he would go to another room because we would get upset later. Also, my son is not a small-spirited child. If it were anyone else, he would act coy. Although it’s not something to be coy about, if it was another child, they would say, ‘Take me to the doctor.’ We don’t have that at all. He would mostly go to other rooms and walk around, and when he felt like it, he would come to us. He couldn’t eat properly, even if he was sitting at the table or standing up,” he said.