ENDOSCOPICALLY GUIDED BALLOON DILATATION OF BENIGN ESOPHAGEAL STRICTURES IN 6 CATS AND 7 DOGS

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.