Achalasia: a 13-year, single-centre experience comparing endoscopic balloon dilatation and laparoscopic Heller myotomy.

Background: Idiopathic achalasia is a non-curable, primary motility disorder of the oesophagus. Most established long-term palliative treatment options are laparoscopic Heller myotomy (LHM) and endoscopic balloon dilatation (BD).

Aim: We aimed to compare the outcome of both therapies and the risk of serious complications, defined as perforation or death, in a single-centre series.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the left ventricle in an older adult.

We report an unusual study of a 72-year-old woman who presented with a symptomatic space-occupying lesion in the left ventricle. The lesion was surgically excised with a good long-term result. It was histologicaly diagnosed as an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.