title: Recurrent benign esophageal strictures treated with self-bougienage: report of seven cases.
abstract: Self-bougienage has rarely been used in the treatment of recurrent benign esophageal strictures. Nonetheless, it has proved to be a useful alternative technique in carefully selected patients. Herein we report our experience with seven symptomatic patients who were treated with self-bougienage for recurrent benign esophageal strictures. These seven patients (six men and one woman; mean age, 66.9 years) had had dysphagia for a mean of 37.9 months and had undergone a mean of 6.7 endoscopic dilations before their involvement in a self-bougienage program. During a mean follow-up period of 36.3 months (range, 10 to 78 months) after initiation of self-bougienage treatment, all seven patients became asymptomatic and remained free of dysphagia. No complications occurred in any patient, and no further endoscopic dilations were necessary. Our results suggest that self-bougienage can provide long-term symptomatic relief in selected patients with recurrent benign esophageal strictures.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Groskreutz
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gehrking
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D004106:Dilatation / Q000379:methods*; D004940:Esophageal Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D004945:Esophagoscopy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012648:Self Care