Medically Reviewed By: Dr. Neeraj Goel, MCh (GI Surgery)
Designation: Director – GI Surgery, Upper GI & Minimally Invasive Surgery
Review Date: August 28, 2026
Most people get a bout of heartburn after a heavy dinner. But when stomach acid and food keep washing back into your throat several days a week, it becomes Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). At the bottom of your food pipe sits a muscular valve called the lower esophageal sphincter. It is supposed to seal shut once food drops into your stomach. When that muscle slackens, acid creeps straight up. Over time, that constant chemical wash burns the lining of your food pipe. Left alone, it can lead to painful open sores, narrowing scar tissue, Barrett's esophagus, and higher odds of developing esophageal cancer.
Reflux starts when the barrier separating your stomach from your food pipe stops doing its job.
Common medical causes:
Everyday habits that aggravate it:
Reflux does not always feel like simple burning in your chest. It shows up differently from person to person.
Many people with a lingering cough or sore throat actually have silent reflux without ever feeling classic heartburn.
A hiatal hernia happens when the upper stomach slips through the opening in your diaphragm muscle and pushes into your chest. It frequently develops right alongside GERD. Once the stomach moves out of place, your natural anti-reflux valve gets warped, making reflux attacks much worse. Large hiatal hernias almost always need surgery to fix the anatomy and stop the backflow for good.
Ignoring chronic reflux lets acid slowly damage the tissue:
The goal is simple: stop the acid wash, prevent long-term tissue harm, and help you eat and sleep comfortably.
Pills do a fine job lowering acid levels, but they cannot repair the loose physical valve that lets fluid splash upward in the first place.
Surgery is worth considering when:
Robotic surgery offers a minimally invasive way to fix severe reflux. The robotic console provides the surgeon with high-definition 3D vision and tiny wristed instruments that move with extreme accuracy in narrow spaces around the food pipe and diaphragm.
Benefits for patients:
Most patients feel their reflux vanish immediately after surgery. Because everything is done through keyhole incisions, you recover quickly. You will stick to liquids and soft foods for a short period before easing back into regular meals. For most people, surgery offers lasting relief and completely ends the need for daily pills.
Dr. Neeraj Goel provides specialized surgical care for severe GERD, large hiatal hernias, achalasia, and complex upper GI conditions. His work focuses on robotic fundoplications and hiatal hernia repairs designed to minimize surgical stress and speed up recovery. Through thorough diagnostic testing and tailored surgical planning, he builds treatment plans focused on your long-term digestive comfort.
Occasional heartburn happens to everyone after a spicy meal. GERD is different—it is an ongoing medical condition where your lower valve stays loose, letting stomach acid and food repeatedly splash into your food pipe several times a week.
It usually comes down to a loose lower valve, a hiatal hernia pushing into your chest, carrying extra weight, smoking, or eating large meals right before bed.
You will typically feel a burning sensation behind your breastbone, sour fluid in your throat, a foul taste in your mouth, chest pressure, difficulty swallowing, or a dry cough that refuses to go away.
Yes. Ignoring constant acid exposure can burn the lining of your food pipe, leading to painful ulcers, narrowing scar tissue, Barrett's esophagus, and a higher risk of esophageal cancer down the road.
When the top part of your stomach pushes through the diaphragm into your chest, the natural muscular valve gets distorted and can no longer seal shut.
Specialists use an endoscopy camera to check the lining of your food pipe, a 24-hour pH test to measure acid levels, manometry to test muscle squeeze, and barium swallow X-rays to map the anatomy.
Mild cases often improve with weight loss, avoiding late-night meals, cutting out sodas and oily foods, and taking acid-reducing pills like PPIs.
An operation makes sense when daily medications stop working, when a large hiatal hernia is present, or when you want a permanent mechanical fix instead of taking pills for life.
It is a minimally invasive procedure where the surgeon uses robotic arms to rebuild your body's natural valve through tiny keyhole punctures.
The surgeon takes the upper curve of your stomach and wraps it around the bottom of your food pipe. This reinforces the weak muscle, creating a snug one-way valve that stops acid from splashing up.
It is a full 360-degree wrap of the stomach around the lower food pipe, and it remains the most trusted, long-standing surgery for severe reflux.
For most patients, robotic surgery provides long-term symptom relief and eliminates or dramatically cuts down the need for daily antacid pills.
Most people stay in the hospital for just a short observation, eat soft foods for a few weeks, and return to work and daily life within a couple of weeks.
Yes. This is known as silent reflux. Acid wash can irritate your vocal cords and airways, causing morning hoarseness, a dry cough, and constant throat clearing without any burning in your chest.
Schedule a visit if you have daily heartburn, food catching in your throat, a stubborn chronic cough, or reflux symptoms that daily medications no longer control.
