The surgical treatment of a pharyngeal pouch: inversion or excision?

Twenty eight patients with pharyngeal pouches were treated at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, between 1975 and 1985. Nineteen of these patients had the pouch excised and 9 patients had the pouch inverted. Preoperative and postoperative cine barium swallows were obtained on all patients. The results show pouch inversion to be an effective method of treatment with a low recurrence rate, and fewer complications compared with pouch excision. Inversion of a pharyngeal pouch with a cricopharyngeal myotomy is therefore recommended as a safe, satisfactory treatment.