Figure 9 - Overall clinical response of asthma to antireflux therapy.

a: By the end of 2 years, complete cure occurred only in the surgical group and in only 6% of patients. Marked improvement or cure occurred in 44% of surgery patients and in no patients in the control or medical groups. b: Improvement, marked improvement, or cure in the overall asthma status occurred in 74.9% of the surgical group, 9.1% of the medical group, and 4.2% of the control group (p <.001, surgical vs. medical and control). The overall status worsened in 47.8% of the control group, 36.4% of the medical group, and 12.5% of the surgical group. The worsening in the surgical group was attributed entirely to two patients who died within 1 year of their surgery. (Source: Adapted from Sontag et al.¹⁰³)