1999 Volume 54 Pages 132-133
Dilatation with a balloon catheter was successfully performed for a sigmoid stricture which occurred in a patient with ischemic colitis. A 82-year-old male patient presented with diarrhea and lower abdominal pain from the end of January 1998. He was admitted to our hospital in February. Colonofiberscopy showed narrowing of the lumen and ulcer in the sigmoid colon. Barium enema showed a 3.5cm length stenosis and thumb-printing shadow in the sigmoid colon. He was diagnosed as ischemic colitis. As the symptoms disappeared after conservative therapy, he was discharged in March. Because the symptoms recurred from May, he was readmitted in June. Colonofiberscopy showed marked stenosis of the sigmoid colon that could not be passed through by the scope. After the stricture was dilated by balloon dilator, he referred no complains. No crecurrence of the stenosis has occured five month after the procedure. The balloon dilatation technique may be worth trying before surgical treatment in treating ischemic colonic stricture.
