Schatzki's ring: to cut or break an unresolved problem

Symptom assessment has been proven to be less reliable than barium pill testing for success of dilation of peptic strictures. Schatzki's ring also has a high recurrence rate. Our aim here was to compare the efficacy of single dilatation with a 54-F Savary dilator and electrosurgical ring incision for symptomatic Schatzki's rings. Schatzki's ring patients who failed to pass a 12.7-mm barium pill were randomized to dilatation with a 54-F Savary dilator or four quadrant incisions with a needle knife. All received lansoprazole (30 mg) for 30 days posttreatment. Follow-up at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months used the pill test and a dysphagia score. Eleven patients (mean age, 62; median, 64) were randomized and received therapy, six with dilatation and five with incision. The ring diameter pretherapy was 9.8 +/- 1.3 mm. One patient with dilatation had a procedure-related esophageal perforation. The dysphagia score decreased (from 2.7 +/- 1.1 predilatation and 3.0 +/- 0.4 preincision) to 0 after treatment, suggesting that both therapies were equally successful. In contrast, using objective measurements with the barium pill showed that the pill failed to pass the ring in 60% at 1 month after therapy. The failure rate by 1 year was 100%. Use of an objective measure of effectiveness of treatment of symptomatic Schatzki's rings showed that neither single large-dilator dilatation nor four quadrant ring incision was a reliable and effective therapy. In the future studies, repeated dilatation may be needed to define success before long-term outcome can be accurately assessed.