Photo courtesy of the Medical Center of Plano -- This flexible band of titanium-encased magnets is what is wrapped around the base of the esophagus during the LINX procedure, a new surgery designed to reduce, or even eliminate, acid reflux symptoms. The Medical Center of Plano performed the first LINX procedure in the Dallas-Fort Worth area May 7.
For Plano resident Holly McCool-Heimsath, living with acid reflux disease was a 28-year nightmare.
No medication was able to keep her symptoms at bay on a long-term basis, and her symptoms were so severe that she ultimately found herself taking six different medicines at once; some in double doses.
"A lot of times I would end up in the hospital because I would think, or someone else would think, I was having a heart attack," she said. "I had really bad chest pains."
Acid reflux -- also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease -- is a condition in which the base of the esophagus does not close after food enters the stomach, allowing food and stomach acid to leak back into the esophagus, causing pain and even injury to the lining of the esophagus. One in five Americans suffer from frequent symptoms of acid reflux.
Through Internet research, McCool-Heimsath learned of the LINX procedure, a new minimally invasive surgery in which ring of magnets is placed around the base of the esophagus. The ring expands to allow food to enter the stomach but otherwise remains closed to prevent reflux into the esophagus.
The procedure, which only recently received approval from the Food and Drug Administration, is still new and relatively rare. McCool-Heimsath had an appointment booked at a hospital Boston, Mass. before learning a hospital in her hometown -- Medical Center of Plano -- also offered the surgery.
On May 7, she was the first person in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to receive the procedure.
"I could tell when I woke up after surgery that it worked, because I had no acid reflux at all," she said, adding she went back to work only two days after the procedure.
Dr. David Smith, one of the surgical oncologists that performed the procedure, said the first line of defense against the disease is blocking stomach acid through medication. More severe cases may warrant nissen fundiplication, an inpatient procedure in which part of the stomach is wrapped around the area where the esophagus meets the stomach to prevent reflux from occurring.
The nissen surgery, however, can have unwanted side effects and is irreversible. By comparison, the LINX procedure is a "snip and stitch" treatment that fills the void between medical management of the symptoms and a large-scale surgery.
"It opens the doors for people that are tolerating medical management but are not happy with it," he said. "It's a minimally invasive, relatively small alternative that has a potentially curative effect on that reflux."
Dr. Thomas LeVoyer, another surgical oncologist who performed McCool-Heimsath's surgery, said while any patient undergoing the procedure today will be kept overnight for observation, the ultimate goal is to realize the treatment's potential as an outpatient procedure.
"We'll see how it goes, but the literature that's out there right now on the procedure is very exciting. People are having long-term, durable responses, and that's a really cool thing," he said.
McCool-Heimsath, meanwhile, has been symptom-free since the surgery. The first thing she did after the surgery, she said, was eat a hamburger, something that was unthinkable less than a week ago.
"I spent many years always agonizing," she said. "I hurt all the time. I never felt good. I haven't felt this good in years. ... It's only been two days, but I believe it's going to change my life.
"To me, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me."
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