Esophageal Stricture

67 year-old woman with longstanding reflux disease and a chronic distal esophageal stricture with superficial ulcerations; close-up shows mucosal friability and bleeding from the ulcers after gentle manipulation of the stricture.

Left: 50 year-old woman, with a history of lye ingestion in childhood, who presented with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). Endoscopy demonstrated dilation of the upper portion of the esophagus, with diffuse mucosal scarring, and several non-obstructing web-like rings. At the distal edge of this injured segment of esophagus is a tighter stricture, representing the cause of her symptoms.

Right: Tight stricture at the esophagogastric junction in a 98 year-old woman who had complained of progressive dysphagia to solids. Shown here are four tablets entrapped within the esophagus above the stricture, and a transendoscopic balloon catheter placed within the stricture, prior to inflating the balloon.