Summa Health Introduces Minimally Invasive Procedure to Treat Severe Reflux
Date: 04/09/2019
AKRON, Ohio, April 9, 2019 – Summa Health recently became Akron’s first and only provider of the LINX® Reflux Management System (LINX) for patients suffering from severe acid reflux. LINX is a device placed laparoscopically that helps to eliminate the symptoms caused by acid reflux. It is a band of magnetic titanium beads approximately the size of a quarter that is implanted to strengthen the lower esophageal sphincter muscle.
Acid reflux, also known as GERD, occurs when a muscle at the end of the esophagus does not close properly. This allows stomach contents to leak back, or reflux, into the esophagus and irritate it, often causing a burning feeling in the chest or throat called heartburn. The LINX System is placed around the lower esophagus just above the stomach. The magnetic attraction between the beads is designed to help the lower esophageal sphincter muscle resist opening to gastric pressures. The augmented strength of the muscle prevents fluid and acid from refluxing into the esophagus, while still allowing for food to pass normally into the stomach.
“For many people, acid reflux can be a painful and debilitating illness that cannot be treated with medicine alone,” said Summa Health Medical Group Surgeon Dr. Mark Pozsgay. “The LINX System offers a minimally invasive treatment when medication and lifestyle changes alone aren’t enough. LINX may be reversible and is another tool available to help get people back to their regular lives, free of reflux.”
Patients are placed under general anesthesia during the procedure and most people go home the day after surgery and resume a normal diet. Additional information about LINX may be obtained at www.summahealth.org/digestivehealth.
About Summa Health
Summa Health is one of the largest integrated healthcare delivery systems in Ohio. Encompassing a network of hospitals, community health centers, a health plan, a physician-hospital organization, a multi-specialty physician organization, research and the Summa Health Foundation, we are nationally renowned for excellence in patient care and for exceptional approaches to healthcare delivery. Summa’s clinical services are consistently recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (Magnet status), Thomson Reuters and The Leapfrog Group. For more information, visit summahealth.org or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/summahealth and Twitter, twitter.com/summahealth.
Media Contact: Mike Bernstein
Phone: 234.312.5012