Achalasia causes
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Twinkle Singh, M.B.B.S. [2], Ahmed Younes M.B.B.CH [3]
Overview
Achalasia is chronic esophageal motility disorder. The most common form is primary achalasia, which has no known underlying cause. It is due to the failure of distal esophageal inhibitory neurons. However, a small proportion occurs secondary to other conditions, such as esophageal cancer or Chagas disease.
Causes
Life threatening
Life-threatening causes include conditions which may result in death or permanent disability within 24 hours if left untreated. Achalasia does not have life-threatening causes.
Common causes
Less common causes
Causes by Organ System
| Cardiovascular | No underlying causes |
| Chemical/Poisoning | No underlying causes |
| Dental | No underlying causes |
| Dermatologic | No underlying causes |
| Drug Side Effect | No underlying causes |
| Ear Nose Throat | No underlying causes |
| Endocrine | Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 |
| Environmental | No underlying causes |
| Gastroenterologic | Eosinophilic gastroenteritis, esophageal cancer, gastric carcinoma, idiopathic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, myenteric plexus degeneration, pancreatic cancer |
| Genetic | No underlying causes |
| Hematologic | No underlying causes |
| Iatrogenic | No underlying causes |
| Infectious Disease | Chagas disease, HSV-1, herpes zoster, measles |
| Musculoskeletal/Orthopedic | No underlying causes |
| Neurologic | Neurofibromatosis |
| Nutritional/Metabolic | No underlying causes |
| Obstetric/Gynecologic | No underlying causes |
| Oncologic | Esophageal cancer, lung carcinoma, lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, paraneoplastic syndrome |
| Ophthalmologic | No underlying causes |
| Overdose/Toxicity | No underlying causes |
| Psychiatric | No underlying causes |
| Pulmonary | No underlying causes |
| Renal/Electrolyte | No underlying causes |
| Rheumatology/Immunology/Allergy | Sarcoidosis, Juvenile Sjögren’s syndrome |
| Sexual | No underlying causes |
| Trauma | No underlying causes |
| Urologic | No underlying causes |
| Miscellaneous | Anderson-Fabry disease, Amyloidosis |
Causes in Alphabetical Order
References
- ↑ Gockel I, Müller M, Schumacher J (2012). “Achalasia–a disease of unknown cause that is often diagnosed too late”. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 109 (12): 209–14. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2012.0209. PMC 3329145. PMID 22532812.
- ↑ Ghoshal UC, Daschakraborty SB, Singh R (2012). “Pathogenesis of achalasia cardia”. World J. Gastroenterol. 18 (24): 3050–7. doi:10.3748/wjg.v18.i24.3050. PMC 3386318. PMID 22791940.
- ↑ Ates F, Vaezi MF (2015). “The Pathogenesis and Management of Achalasia: Current Status and Future Directions”. Gut Liver. 9 (4): 449–63. doi:10.5009/gnl14446. PMC 4477988. PMID 26087861.
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