Perioperative Images of Cricopharyngeal Achalasia Ming-Ho Wu, MD, and Han-Yun Wu, NP Fig 1. Fig 3. A 77-year-old woman was referred to us for surgical intervention of cricopharyngeal achalasia. She complained of 2-year dysphagia and a weight loss of 30 kg. There was no evidence of malignancy on esophagogastroscopy and computed tomography. The dysphagia was refractory to esophageal bougienage. Preoperative esophagography showed pharyngeal stasis of contrast medium (Fig 1). She underwent excision of the posterior circumference of the cricopharyngeal muscle (Fig 2). Esophagography revealed patent pharyngoesophagus on postoperative day 20 (Fig 3). She showed weight gain of 3.5 kg on postoperative day 45. Fig 2. Address correspondence to Dr Wu, 670 Chung-Te Rd, Tainan, Taiwan, 701 Republic of China; e-mail: [email protected]. Ó 2013 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Published by Elsevier Inc Ann Thorac Surg 2013;96:703 0003-4975/$36.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2013.01.087 FEATURE ARTICLES Department of Surgery, Tainan Municipal Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan