title: Bougienage is effective therapy for most benign esophageal strictures.
abstract: Esophageal stricture is the most frequent serious complication of reflux esophagitis. Bougienage was used as the primary therapy of benign esophageal stricture in 92 patients, followed by institution of a medical antireflux program. Response to treatment was excellent, and 78% of patients required two or fewer subsequent dilations. Twenty patients were followed up for two years or longer, and 75% did not require more than one dilation annually. Primary therapy for most patients with peptic stenosis of the esophagus is recommended to be dilation; operative therapy should be reserved for those patients in whom a malignant neoplasm is suspected or those in whom frequent and rapid stricture recurrence makes medical therapy impractical.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D004106:Dilatation; D004940:Esophageal Stenosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004942:Esophagitis, Peptic / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D004947:Esophagus; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006356:Heartburn / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged