[Diagnosis and treatment of peptic strictures of the esophagus]

In the period between 1963 and 1986 there were 189 patients with peptic stricture of the esophagus under observation. The peptic stricture was primary in 149 and secondary in 40 patients. Complex diagnosis of the disease allowed an adequate therapeutic tactics to be chosen. The management of peptic strictures should be started in all cases with nonoperative measures including bougienage. Such treatment produced a stable effect in 47% of cases. Various operative interventions were carried out in 53% of patients. Fundoplication in combination with selective proximal vagotomy was the most sparing and effective operation in primary peptic stricture; a secondary stricture had to be treated most frequently by resection of the esophagus, which was completed by valvular esophagogastroanastomosis. The late results proved best in primary peptic stricture.