Treatment of gerd

An apparatus for treating reflux disease of a human patient, adapted to at least partly encircle the esophagus of the patient, comprising:

• a first implantable portion having a shape and size allowing it to be arranged to rest against a fundus wall portion of the patient's stomach and to be at least partly invaginated by the fundus wall portion, such that the first implantable portion is implanted at a position between the patient's diaphragm and a lower portion of the fundus wall, and such that movement of the cardia of the patient's stomach towards the diaphragm is restricted to hinder the cardia from sliding through the diaphragm opening into the patient's thorax;
• a second implantable portion being elongated to at least partly encircle the esophagus and having a variable length for allowing the apparatus be arranged in a constricting state for hindering fluid from passing from the stomach into the esophagus and in an expanded state for allowing food to pass into the stomach in response to the patient swallowing, wherein at least one of the first and the second implantable portion comprises a plurality of bodies configured to be arranged in an annular array around the esophagus, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an attractor for resiliently attracting adjacent ones of said bodies to each other, and wherein the attractor comprises at least one of a magnet, an elastic member, and a spring.