after a period in which surgery was almost the exclusive mode of treatment in patients with severe complications resulting from ger or in patients who did not respond to medical therapy , long-term follow-up showed that in 20 cases of ger in which only medical treatment was given , a progressive shortening of the esophagus -- frequently in the absence of esophagitis -- had developed .
C0017168
ger
C0014876
esophagus