Balloon sheaths for gastrointestinal guidance and access: a preliminary phantom study.
OBJECTIVE
We wanted to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of a newly designed balloon sheath for gastrointestinal guidance and access by conducting a phantom study.


METHODS
The newly designed balloon sheath consisted of an introducer sheath and a supporting balloon. A coil catheter was advanced over a guide wire into two gastroduodenal phantoms (one was with stricture and one was without stricture); group I was without a balloon sheath, group ll was with a deflated balloon sheath, and groups III and IV were with an inflated balloon and with the balloon in the fundus and body, respectively. Each test was performed for 2 minutes and it was repeated 10 times in each group by two researchers, and the positions reached by the catheter tip were recorded.


RESULTS
Both researchers had better performances with both phantoms in order of group IV, III, II and I. In group IV, both researchers advanced the catheter tip through the fourth duodenal segment in both the phantoms. In group I, however, the catheter tip never reached the third duodenal segment in both the phantoms by both the researchers. The numeric values for the four study groups were significantly different for both the phantoms (p < 0.001). A significant difference was also found between group III and IV for both phantoms (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The balloon sheath seems to be feasible for clinical use, and it has good clinical potential for gastrointestinal guidance and access, particularly when the inflated balloon is placed in the gastric body.
He
Xu
X
Department of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Shin
Ji Hoon
JH
Kim
Hyo-Cheol
HC
Woo
Cheol Woong
CW
Woo
Sung Ha
SH
Choi
Won-Chan
WC
Kim
Jong-Gyu
JG
Lim
Jin-Oh
JO
Kim
Tae-Hyung
TH
Yoon
Chang Jin
CJ
Kang
Weechang
W
Song
Ho-Young
HY
D002404:Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004380:Duodenal Obstruction / Q000628:therapy; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D017219:Gastric Outlet Obstruction / Q000628:therapy; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging