RISK FACTORS FOR REFRACTORY BENIGN ESOPHAGEAL STRICTURES

Background: The management of patients with refractory benign esophageal stricture is time-consuming and challenging. Dilation is the classic treatment for esophageal strictures, expressed primarily as dysphagia, which can significantly impair quality of life.Our objective is to report the results of dilatation, as well as the different risk factors of refractory benign esophageal strictures. Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study. Thirty-three patients with benign esophageal strictures were treated by dilation between 2016 and 2021. Refractory stenosis was defined as the inability to maintain esophageal caliber at 14 mm diameter over 5 dilatation sessions, or the inability to maintain satisfactory luminal diameter for 4 weeks once a 14 mm diameter was achieved. Results: 12 patients had refractory strictures. All patients had dysphagia.After univariate analysis, refractory strictures were associated with the presence of a peptic stenosis (p=0.002) and dilatations of caliber less than 16 mm (p=0.012), after multivariate analysis only peptic stenosis was associated with refractory stenosis (p=0.034). Conclusion: In our series, refractory stenosis was present in 38.7%. Peptic stenosis was statistically significantly associated with refractory esophageal stenosis.