Lower oesophageal meat bolus clearance using a radiologically guided balloon catheter: case in a 94-year-old patient

Lower oesophageal foreign body meat bolus obstruction is potentially life-threatening. We report a case in a 94-year-old woman in which conservative measures and flexible oesophagoscopy were unsuccessful. Rigid oesophagoscopy was considered technically difficult and so clearance by interventional radiology was attempted. Through the mouth a radiologically guided balloon catheter was introduced. It was passed beyond the bolus to dilate the site of obstruction, before being withdrawn and inflated above the bolus, pushing it into the stomach. Although successful in this case, the technique is previously unreported and so its complication rate is unknown. It is therefore presented only to be considered when other treatments are neither effective nor possible.