I saw a post on Facebook of a patient who had surgery a year ago and has had problems swallowing since then (dysphagia). For this patient, it is causing awful chest pains, excessive weight loss, and overall worse quality of life than before surgery. She stated she wished she never had surgery and just lived with her symptoms. It turns out that her surgeon only does a few of these procedures a year.

It is really important to seek out a surgeon who has a lot of experience with this surgery and others like it. Studies have shown better outcomes in clinics that have a high volume. Be sure to ask your surgeon how many of these procedures a month they perform, how long they have been in practice, how many total procedures they have done, and what their complication rate is.

Center for Esophageal Wellness is the only clinic in the Rocky Mountain Region to offer all surgical interventions available on the market for patients with reflux. Dr Bell has over 25 years of experience and has dedicated his practice to surgery on the stomach and esophagus (foregut).