Stricture dilatation is a procedure in which the narrowed part of the esophagus (food pipe) or other areas of the digestive tract is dilated using a special balloon or bougie. The procedure that consist of dilation of a narrowed area of your esophagus (swallowing tube) is called Esophageal Dilation. We use various techniques for this procedure. We perform the procedure under sedation.

Generally a balloon is passed through the scope to dilate the stricture. Sometimes a guide wire is placed across narrow portion using endoscopy (with/ without) assistance of X-Ray image intensifier and dilators are placed over the guide wire.

The most common cause of narrowing of the esophagus or stricture is reflux of stomach acid. It can be because of radiation, corrosive (acid) ingestion, cancer of food pipe etc. The patients often feel like the food is stuck in the chest, they face trouble in swallowing food. This causes discomfort and pain in the esophagus.