Recurrent benign esophageal strictures treated with self-bougienage: report of seven cases.

Self-bougienage has rarely been used in the treatment of recurrent benign esophageal strictures. Nonetheless, it has proved to be a useful alternative technique in carefully selected patients. Herein we report our experience with seven symptomatic patients who were treated with self-bougienage for recurrent benign esophageal strictures. These seven patients (six men and one woman; mean age, 66.9 years) had had dysphagia for a mean of 37.9 months and had undergone a mean of 6.7 endoscopic dilations before their involvement in a self-bougienage program. During a mean follow-up period of 36.3 months (range, 10 to 78 months) after initiation of self-bougienage treatment, all seven patients became asymptomatic and remained free of dysphagia. No complications occurred in any patient, and no further endoscopic dilations were necessary. Our results suggest that self-bougienage can provide long-term symptomatic relief in selected patients with recurrent benign esophageal strictures.