Endoscopic Management Of Strictures Research Articles

Endoscopic Management of Strictures in Crohn's Disease: An Unsolved Case.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with a significant burden in terms of quality of life and health care costs. It is frequently associated with several complications, including the development of intestinal strictures. Stricturing CD requires a careful multidisciplinary approach involving medical therapy and surgery, still posing a continuous management challenge; in this context, endoscopic treatment represents a valuable, in-between opportunity as a minimally invasive strategy endorsed by extensive yet heterogeneous evidence and evolving research and techniques. This review summarizes current knowledge on the role of therapeutic endoscopy in stricturing CD, focusing on evidence gaps, recent updates, and novel techniques intended for optimizing efficacy, safety, and tailoring of this approach in the view of precision endoscopy.

Predictive role of ureteral wall thickness and patient characteristics in endoscopic treatment outcomes for ureteral stricture disease following stone surgery

PurposeTo evaluate the role of certain radiological parameters and patient characteristics in predicting the success of endoscopic treatment in ureteral stricture disease.MethodsFifty one adult patients with ureteral stricture disease (< 1 cm) after developing due to upper ureteral stones with ureteroscopic laser disintegration were included and in addition to stone and patient parameters, radiological parameters including ureteral wall thickness (UWT) at the impacted stone site were also measured on computed tomography (CT) images. Patients were divided into two groups: Group 1: Patients with endoscopic treatment success and Group 2: Patients with endoscopic treatment failure. The possible relationship between the UWT values and other radiological parameter was comparatively evaluated.ResultsMean UWT value assessed at the treated stone site was significantly higher in cases unresponsive to endoscopic treatment with values of 2.77 ± 1.03 mm and 4.25 ± 1.32 mm in Group 1 and 2 respectively. A cut off value 3.55 mm for UWT was found to be highly predictive for endoscopic treatment failure.ConclusionsOur current results indicated that assessment of UWT value at the obstructing stone could be helpful enough to predict the likelihood of failure following endoscopic management of strictures with high sensitivity and specificity. Evaluation of this particular parameter could let the endourologists to look for more rational treatment alternatives with necessary measures taken on time.

Endoscopic management of strictures in patients with Crohn's disease - A multi-center experience in Taiwan

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that causes relapsing inflammation and severe mucosal damage in the intestine. Crohn's disease (CD)-related stricturing complications are a major cause of surgery, disability, and reduced quality of life. Endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) has been shown to reliably delay or prevent surgery in patients with stricturing CD. However, cases of EBD performed for stricture in CD in Taiwan are rare. In this study, we want to evaluate the experiences regarding EBD for stricturing CD in Taiwan. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 9 medical centers in Taiwan. Patients with CD-related strictures who were treated with EBD were included and analyzed. In nine medical centers, a total of 26 CD patients (19 male, 7 female, mean disease duration 75.4 ± 65.2 months) underwent 42 EBD procedures during the study period. Among the subjects, an 83.3% (35/42) EBD success rate was seen, but 26.9% (7/26) patients underwent surgery after ineffective EBD. In the surgery group, the the small bowel strictures was high compared with the non-surgery group (p = 0.01). There were no significant differences in disease phenotype, disease duration or history of fistulizing disease. In the surgery group, immunosuppressant use was high, and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) use was low compared with the non-surgery group. After EBD, the physicians tended to change the drugs, especially increasing the use of biologic agents. EBD is a safe and effective procedure for CD-related stricture, with a 83.3% success rate in Taiwan.

DOZ047.08: Endoscopic management of esophageal stenosis in patients with congenital esophageal atresia: experience of a single tertiary care center in Italy

Abstract Objective and Study Esophageal stenosis is the most common morbidity associated with congenital esophageal atresia (EA). There is no consensus regarding the endoscopic management of strictures in terms of timing and techniques of dilations. The aim of this study is to describe the endoscopic management of esophageal stenosis in children with EA admitted to our tertiary care center. Methods A retrospective descriptive single-center study was conducted. Data were collected of all patients diagnosed with EA admitted to the ‘Women's and Children's Hospital’ of Verona, Italy, between 2004 and 2017. Results Thirty-seven patients with EA were admitted to our center between 2004 and 2017. Twenty of them were excluded for insufficient data. All patients underwent surgical correction within 2 months of life. An endoscopic control with upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed in all of them. Eleven (65%) subjects had tracheoesophageal fistula. All of them had type C EA. Three (18%) had long-gap EA. Eleven patients (65%), 8 with Type C EA and 3 with Type A EA, underwent endoscopic dilation. Semirigid Savary-Giliard bougies were used in most of them. Pneumatic dilation with balloon was performed only in one case. Nine (81%) needed more than one dilation due to anastomotic stricture recurrence. In 3 of the 11 subjects (27%) more than 3 dilations were necessary. Two of them had long-gap EA. The median age of first endoscopic dilation was 3 months (range: 1–12 months). The median age of the last dilation was 6 months (range: 1–18 months). One of the 11 patients who underwent dilations (Type C EA with long gap) underwent surgical retreatment due to fistula recurrence. Six of the 17 subjects (35%) enrolled developed long-term complications. Conclusion Our data confirmed that anastomotic stricture is frequent in patients with EA who underwent surgical correction. Endoscopic management of stenosis is a safe and effective procedure that leads to a limited number of complications. Side effects are more likely to occur in patients with long-gap EA. Timing of dilations and endoscopic technique should be defined by international guidelines in order to improve patient's outcome.

Management of perforation following stricture dilation.

Strictures can occur along any portions of the gastrointestinal tract for a variety of reasons and are commonly complicated by partial or complete obstruction. Endoscopic management of strictures is common, and generally safe. The most dreaded complication of stricture dilation is perforation due to high morbidity and mortality. The treatment of perforation following stricture dilation is commonly multidisciplinary and should involve gastrointestinal, surgical, and interventional radiology teams. A variety of devices and techniques are available to the endoscopist which now allow for successful endoscopic management of perforation in many cases.

Endoscopic management of hilar biliary strictures.

Hilar biliary strictures are caused by various benign and malignant conditions. It is difficult to differentiate benign and malignant strictures. Postcholecystectomy benign biliary strictures are frequently encountered. Endoscopic management of these strictures is challenging. An endoscopic method has been advocated that involves placement of increasing number of stents at regular intervals to resolve the stricture. Malignant hilar strictures are mostly unresectable at the time of diagnosis and only palliation is possible.Endoscopic palliation is preferred over surgery or radiological intervention. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreaticography is quite important in the management of these strictures. Metal stents are superior to plastic stents. The opinion is divided over the issue of unilateral or bilateral stenting.Minimal contrast or no contrast technique has been advocated during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography of these patients. The role of intraluminal brachytherapy, intraductal ablation devices, photodynamic therapy, and endoscopic ultrasound still remains to be defined.

Dangers associated with endoscopic management of strictures in IBD

Dangers associated with endoscopic management of strictures in IBD