What’s Zenker’s diverticulum?

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Zenker’s diverticulum is a disorder that most commonly affects the elderly. The current name refers to the development of a pouch or diverticulum (pouch) in the throat. This is just below where food is swallowed, and because it creates a supply of food in the pouch every time food is eaten, it can create many different problems, including making it difficult for food to pass down the esophagus and when it is full, having the food re-emerge in the throat at odd times to create choking and coughing.

Symptoms of Zenker’s diverticulum, therefore, include coughing and choking especially at night, a feeling that food is not passing or cannot be swallowed, stale, previously eaten food in the upper throat, often many hours after consumption, and sometimes lacks effectiveness of the drugs taken. The latter can occur because the drugs are stuck in the pouch and have not reached the stomach where they can be broken down and distributed to the body as needed. Such symptoms are always a reason to see a doctor to determine the underlying problem, although when people first develop this condition symptoms may occur only occasionally.

A doctor may have several methods for diagnosing Zenker’s diverticulum. These could include x-rays which use barium to find the pocket. Other methods that might be employed are just X-rays, other scans, or bronchoscopy, which can look at the throat to find any abnormalities.

Sometimes, when Zenker’s diverticulum is first diagnosed, the symptoms are very mild, but for many people, the pouch will enlarge over time resulting in much more frequent and bothersome symptoms. Doctors typically suggest that treating Zenker’s diverticulum will ultimately require surgery to cut or staple the pouch and close its connection to the rest of the throat.

There are several ways in which surgery can be performed for this condition and they may depend on the preferences of the doctor and/or the patient. The decision is usually ultimately up to the patient, and there are two common methods by which Zenker’s diverticulum can be removed. The first is a throat operation, which cuts the throat and cuts the pocket or staple the closure. Alternatively, a surgeon may access your throat through your mouth through what is called an endoscope or several of them. These devices can then be used to close the diverticulum. Endoscopic procedures tend to gain favor, are just as likely to work as open procedures, and typically have faster recovery times, so they’re gaining rapidly as the most popular approach.

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