A Case of Esophageal Stricture Due to Corrosive Injury Treated with a Balloon Dilator.

Swallowing a corrosive, especially an alkali agent often cause a severe esophageal stricture which is usually very difficult to be treated. In this paper, a case of esophageal stricture treated by a balloon dilator was reported.The patient was 46-year-old female complaining of swallowing difficulty. She had an episode of drinking sodium hydroxide in childhood by mistake. She had been diagnosed as esophageal stricture by a previous doctor. She underwent surgical treatments twice without any satisfactory result. She was referred to our clinic. Esophagography and endoscopy revealed two stenotic lesions in her lower esophagus. Under hospitalization, she was treated by a balloon dilator inflated at 2 atmospheric pressure. The dilator was inserted through her mouth and inflated four times a day. Each trial was fifteen minutes. Although the treatment was continued for a week, there was little improvement. Besides, severe erosive lesions around the stenosis were detected. Considering the risk of an esophageal perforation by frequent trial of insertion, the balloon dilator was inserted through the nose and kept in the esophagus. Inflation of the balloon for sixty minutes a day was performed for consecutive twenty days. After two courses of this treatment, the stenosis appeared to be dilated adequately.The method using a balloon dilator may require a long period to improve an esophageal stricture, compared with other methods such as, laser resection or surgical removal. This method, however, is still useful because its safety and repeatability.