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Surgery for Zenker's Diverticulum -- Endoscopic Staple Diverticulostomy (ESD)
Endoscopic staple diverticulostomy (ESD) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure used to treat patients with Zenker’s diverticulum.
The surgery can usually be performed very quickly. Most patients are treated in about 30 minutes, and can go home the same day as the surgery.
Patients have a brief general anesthetic, awaken in the recovery room at the surgery center, and are able to start drinking liquids the same day as the operation. Most patients begin eating a regular diet on the first day after their operation and generally notice improvement in their symptoms within the first few days.
Most patients experience a sore throat for a few days after the surgery.
No special feeding tubes, antibiotics, or tests are needed. All patients are given pain medication to use at home if necessary after surgery. ESD can also be used to treat patients who have a recurrent Zenker’s diverticulum after other surgery.
This treatment was originally developed and pioneered by Richard Scher, MD, at Duke University Medical Center. Scher was the first surgeon to perform this treatment in the United States, and he has used ESD to treat more patients with Zenker’s diverticulum than anyone else in the U.S.
More than 95 percent of the patients Scher has treated by ESD have had a successful result.
Benefits of ESD
ESD has many advantages over other types of surgery that have been used to treat patients with Zenker’s diverticulum. Some of these include:
- Safer
- Performed more quickly
- Usually performed as an outpatient procedure
- Less pain
- Eat sooner
- No incisions on the skin
- Very effective relief of symptoms
Slide Show
Click the arrows below to browse through the slide show of an ESD operation. For a larger version of a picture, click the image.
