Dilatación endoscópica en paciente con acalasia durante el embarazo: reporte de caso y revisión de la literatura

Achalasia in pregnancy is an infrequent, poorly understood condition and its treatment is not clearly defined. The repercussions on the patients nutritional status are serious and in a pregnant woman have serious implications for the course of gestation, with high risk of intrauterine growth restriction, preterm delivery and even fetal loss; there are symptoms that can be confused with hyperemesis gravidarum delaying the diagnosis. The therapeutic options are medical treatment, endoscopic and surgical interventions; to decide what is the best treatment, we should be taken into account the severity, gestational age and patient conditions. Within the spectrum mentioned in the management include calcium antagonists and nitrates, however these have restrictions in pregnancy, another options are botulinum toxin, endoscopic pneumatic dilation, laparoscopic Heller myotomy and recently POEM. In pregnancy there is a few evidence in the literature and in this moment there are about 40 reported cases, some with complications such as fetal loss and maternal death. We present our experience at the San Ignacio University Hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, with a 26-year-old woman with a novo diagnosis of achalasia type II during the first trimester of pregnancy, with a clinical history of severe dysphagia associated with malnutrition. She was management with enteral nutrition support with nasogastric tube to achieve repletion of the body mass index (BMI) and after that, she had a endoscopic management with Rigiflex balloon dilation. It allowed to successfully carry out pregnancy without adverse effects on the mother or the fetus, with adequate evolution and oral tolerance without dysphagia. We consider that nutritional support is important prior to taking a desicion with this type of patient, in addition that endoscopic management with balloon dilation can be safe and effective for the management of achalasia in pregnancy.