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The Effectiveness of Combined Balloon and Bougie Dilatation Technique in Children with Impassable Esophageal Stricture.

Background: Impassable caustic esophageal strictures (CES) can be rendered passable through sophisticated dilatation techniques, hence avoiding the esophageal replacement surgery and its complications. Patients and Method: Patients with impassable CES who were presented to our hospital between January 2015 and April 2020 underwent a combined balloon and bougie dilatation. This technique aims at doing an initial partial dilatation of the proximal segment of the stricture, using a balloon catheter to pave the way for the endoscope to be advanced more distally. Therefore, a guide wire could be passed down to the stomach to complete the dilatation session using bougie dilators. Results: Seven patients out of 138 patients who underwent endoscopic dilatation for CES at the pediatric surgery department were enrolled in this study. Their ages ranged from 2.5 to 6 years. This technique was successful in 6 patients indicating technique reproducibility of 85.7%. These 6 patients continued their next dilatation sessions using bougie dilator only, whereas 4 patients were completely cured from dysphagia indicating technique efficiency of 57%, 1 is still on dilatation, and 1 patient had a resistant stricture. The dilatation through the proposed technique failed in 1 patient, who was referred for a replacement surgery. Conclusion: Combined dilatation is safe and effective to preserve the native esophagus in some difficult CES.