Achalasia care at Mayo Clinic
Your Mayo Clinic care team
Mayo Clinic's achalasia team includes doctors trained in digestive disorders (gastroenterologists). Specialists in the Esophageal Clinic are frequently involved in care.
Having all of this expertise in a single place, focused on you, means that you're not just getting one opinion — care is discussed among the team, appointments are scheduled in coordination and highly specialized achalasia experts are all working together to determine what's best for you.
Advanced diagnosis and treatment
Achalasia can be easily mistaken for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Untreated achalasia can progress to end-stage disease, which might require removal of the esophagus. Specialists at Mayo Clinic are skilled in distinguishing achalasia from GERD and other digestive diseases. Mayo Clinic also offers high-resolution esophageal manometry to assess the severity of your achalasia and guide treatment decisions.
Expertise and rankings
Experience
Treatments for achalasia — including pneumatic dilation, surgical myotomy and particularly POEM — should be performed in high-volume centers of excellence. Specialists in Mayo Clinic's Esophageal Clinic have experience performing these procedures, diagnosing and treating more than 700 people with achalasia every year.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, ranks No. 1 for digestive disorders in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, are ranked among the Best Hospitals for digestive disorders by U.S. News & World Report. Mayo Clinic Children's Center in Rochester is ranked the No. 1 hospital in Minnesota, and the five-state region of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2023–2024 "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings.
Learn more about Mayo Clinic's gastroenterology and hepatology department's expertise and rankings.
Locations, travel and lodging
Mayo Clinic has major campuses in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; and Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic Health System has dozens of locations in several states.
For more information on visiting Mayo Clinic, choose your location below:
Costs and insurance
Mayo Clinic works with hundreds of insurance companies and is an in-network provider for millions of people.
In most cases, Mayo Clinic doesn't require a physician referral. Some insurers require referrals or may have additional requirements for certain medical care. All appointments are prioritized on the basis of medical need.
Learn more about appointments at Mayo Clinic.
Please contact your insurance company to verify medical coverage and to obtain any needed authorization prior to your visit. Often, your insurer's customer service number is printed on the back of your insurance card.