{"id":2234,"date":"2008-06-30T18:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-30T22:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/for-patients\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/"},"modified":"2021-01-14T15:45:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T20:45:09","slug":"hiatal-hernia-surgery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiatal Hernia Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The hiatus is a natural opening that allows the esophagus to enter the abdomen as it descends from the chest. Hiatal hernias occur when abdominal contents such as the stomach push through this opening by compressing against or squeezing alongside the lower esophagus.<\/p>\n<p>Hiatus hernias may contribute to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/refluxsurgery\/\">gastroesophageal reflux disease<\/a> (GERD), but also may affect swallowing or cause other symptoms.<\/p>\n<p><b>Non-GERD symptoms of Hiatal Hernia may include:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Difficult or painful swallowing<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Chest pain<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Vomiting <\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Shortness of Breath <\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Certain stomach ulcers called Cameron\u2019s ulcers <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>How is Hiatal Hernia Diagnosed?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>An upper GI X-ray or endoscopy can identify a hiatal hernia and characterize its severity in most cases. Most are small and do not pose risk to patients. Certain hiatal hernias called paraesophageal hernias do carry a small chance of a sudden dramatic twisting of the stomach that could require emergency surgery.<\/p>\n<p><b>When Should a Hiatal Hernia be Treated Surgically?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Small hiatal hernias associated with GERD do not change the indications for surgery. Therefore, the standard treatments for GERD still apply. However, large hiatal hernias that cause swallowing difficulties, ulcers or worsening of respiratory conditions, as well as paraesophageal hernias, should be assessed by gastroenterologists or surgeons who are able to help you compare the risks of the hernia to the risks of corrective surgery.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"internal-link\" title=\"\" href=\"\/surgery\/gisurgery\/for-patients\/appts\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Making An Appointment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/pre-op\/\">Pre-op Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"internal-link\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/post-op\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Post-op Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The hiatus is a natural opening that allows the esophagus to enter the abdomen as it descends from the chest. Hiatal hernias occur when abdominal contents such as the stomach push through this opening by compressing against or squeezing alongside the lower esophagus. Hiatus hernias may contribute to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but also may &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Hiatal Hernia Surgery\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41945,"featured_media":0,"parent":2872,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-2234","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hiatal Hernia Surgery - Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hiatal Hernia Surgery - Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The hiatus is a natural opening that allows the esophagus to enter the abdomen as it descends from the chest. Hiatal hernias occur when abdominal contents such as the stomach push through this opening by compressing against or squeezing alongside the lower esophagus. Hiatus hernias may contribute to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but also may &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T20:45:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/\",\"name\":\"Hiatal Hernia Surgery - Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-30T22:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-14T20:45:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Patients &amp; Providers\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Diseases &amp; Conditions\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Hiatal Hernia Surgery\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/\",\"name\":\"Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hiatal Hernia Surgery - Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hiatal Hernia Surgery - Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery","og_description":"The hiatus is a natural opening that allows the esophagus to enter the abdomen as it descends from the chest. Hiatal hernias occur when abdominal contents such as the stomach push through this opening by compressing against or squeezing alongside the lower esophagus. Hiatus hernias may contribute to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but also may &hellip; Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/","og_site_name":"Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery","article_modified_time":"2021-01-14T20:45:09+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/","name":"Hiatal Hernia Surgery - Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-06-30T22:20:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-14T20:45:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/hiatal-hernia-surgery\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Patients &amp; Providers","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Diseases &amp; Conditions","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/forpatients\/diseases-conditions\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Hiatal Hernia Surgery"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/","name":"Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11131,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2234\/revisions\/11131"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/surgery\/gisurgery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}