ATLANTA -- Up to 15 million Americans suffer from acid reflux - a digestive ailment similar to heart burn - but a new procedure that does not require surgery can help.

The treatment involves putting a tube down the patient's throat and injecting a tiny amount of material that helps tighten the weak area of the muscle that's causing the reflux.

Meet Michael Mills

Michael Mills suffered from acid reflux for years, a condition that made his life miserable.

"It's stress. My blood pressure was high. You never feel good because you're tired all the time because you wake up in the night," he said. "You don't get a sound night's sleep."

Acid reflux occurs when the muscle between the esophagus and stomach relaxes, allowing acid and food to back up into the patient's throat.

Prescription and over-the-counter drugs can help but Mills said he does not like the inconvenience or the expense.

"You've got a monthly expense so naturally you're worrying about how you're going to pay for this medicine in the future," he said.

Mills is among the first patients to benefit from the new procedure, which uses an injectable material called enteryx. The treatment starts as a liquid that becomes a rubbery foam before stiffening in the patient's lower esophageal sphincter.

An endoscope is passed down the patient's throat, who is under anesthesia, and a small catheter with a needle injects a small amount of the liquid into the muscle at the stomach and throat junction. Once injected, the treatment forms a permanent implant that strengthens the muscle and blocks acid backwash.

"It just forms a little ball of this rubbery material in the muscle and then a fibrous tissue reaction occurs around it," said Dr. Jon Trakina, a gastroenterologist. "In that process, the sphincter becomes more firm and less reflux occurs."

Seventy percent of patients who received the treatment are able to stop taking medication while another 20 percent of can curtail their medicine by half.

"I can go eat and I don't have any problems," Mills said. "Even if I have to eat late and go to bed I don't have any problems. My quality of life is back."

Doctors say the treatment is not reabsorbed by the body and does not move. No major accomplishments have been reported from the procedure, which costs about $3,000 and does not require an overnight hospital stay.