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Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Vessel-sparing Excision and Primary Anastomosis
Published on: January 7, 2019
Factors affecting dilation force in balloon dilation of severe esophageal strictures: an experiment using an
Yoshitaka Nishikawa1, Hirokazu Higuchi2, Osamu Kikuchi3
1Department of Therapeutic Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Background:
The multidiameter balloon catheter is used widely for severe esophageal stricture dilation. However, the relationships between inflation pressure, balloon size, and radial dilation force at the stricture site have not been examined fully.
Methods:
We performed an experiment using phantom models to investigate the relationships between inflation pressure, balloon size, and radial dilation force. The balloon dilation procedure was performed for each stricture model using three sizes of balloon: 10-11-12, 12-13.5-15, and 15-16.5-18 mm.
Results:
A positive association between inflation pressure and dilation force was observed for each balloon size. In balloons inflated by targeting the same diameter, the dilation force was higher for smaller balloons than for larger balloons. An inverse association between stricture size and dilation force was observed in the 12-13.5-15 mm balloon (3 vs 5 mm, P = .002; 5 vs 7 mm, P < .001).
Conclusions:
We found relationships between inflation pressure, balloon size, severity of strictures, and dilation force. To perform safe and effective esophageal balloon dilation, the inflation pressure and balloon size should be selected after considering the stricture size and target diameter.
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