EFFICACY AND OUTCOMES OF ENDOSCOPIC BALLOON DILATATION IN CHILDREN WITH ESOPHAGEAL STRICTURE

Abstract

Objective:  To determine the efficacy and outcomes of endoscopic balloon dilatation in children with esophageal stricture.

Study Design: Prospective cross sectional study.

Place and duration of study: Study was conducted at Pediatric Gastroenterology department of Children's Hospital Lahore during time period 3-01-2024 to 29-08-2024.

Martial & Methods: Total of 47 patients with confirmed diagnosis of esophageal stricture were included in this study. The study begins with ethical approval and informed consent, followed by demographics detail collection. EBD procedures conducted under general anesthesia. Treatment efficacy will be recorded in terms of symptomatic relief and secondary outcomes as treatment response, weight gain and need for next EBD session. Data entry and analysis was done with SPSS version 26.

Results: In this study EBD found to be effective in 87% patients, 72.3% patients have shown complete response, and 87% patients reported to have weight gain. Data stratification with respect to gender, age, site, size and etiology of stricture has shown insignificant results for efficacy among stratified groups, p > 0.05. Among the patients who required only one session, majority had congenital etiology (66.7%), and those who required five and six sessions had chemical etiology (100%), p = 0.001.

Conclusion: Our study found that EBD was effective in 87% of patients in terms of symptomatic relief, complete initial treatment response was documented in 72.3% patients. Patients with chemical etiology required the highest number of EBD sessions. Therefore, EBD is beneficial intervention for symptom relief and is successful in achieving complete and long-lasting therapeutic response.