Bh. Harai et al., ENDOSCOPICALLY GUIDED BALLOON DILATATION OF BENIGN ESOPHAGEAL STRICTURES IN 6 CATS AND 7 DOGS, Journal of veterinary internal medicine, 9(5), 1995, pp. 332-335
Benign esophageal strictures in 6 cats and 7 dogs were treated with en
doscopically guided balloon dilatation. Six of 13 had a history of ane
sthesia within 3 weeks prior to the onset of signs; 8 animals had a si
ngle stricture, and 5 had multiple strictures, for a total of 19 stric
tures. Four of the 19 strictures were in the upper esophagus, 11 were
in the middle esophagus. and 4 were in the lower esophagus. The lumina
l diameters ranged from 1 to 18 mm, with a mean of 5.1 mm. Twelve anim
als survived the immediate postprocedure period and had a total of 50
dilatation procedures performed; the mean number of procedures per ani
mal was 4.2 (range, 2 to 8). Complications included mild bleeding and
tearing (11 of 13), moderate bleeding (1 of 13), and esophageal perfor
ation (1 of 13). The cat with the perforation was subsequently euthani
zed. Follow-up information was available on the 12 remaining animals;
9 were known to be alive 6 to 59 months (mean, 28.2 months) after dila
tation. Two were euthanized, 1 for persistence of signs and the other
for unrelated causes. One animal died of possible aspiration pneumonia
. Three of 13 animals had complete and 9 had partial resolution of sig
ns. Of the 9 animals with partial resolution, 7 were substantially bet
ter with dietary modification, 1 was moderately better, and 1 had mini
mal improvement. Eleven of 13 animals (85%) had a successful outcome w
ith moderate to complete resolution of signs. Thus, it is concluded th
at endoscopically guided balloon dilatation is an effective and relati
vely safe treatment for benign esophageal strictures in dogs and cats.