Treatment of benign strictures and injuries of the oesophagus with a permanent oesophageal tube introduced through a cervical oesophagostomy. II. Clinical observations.

Eighty-four patients with severe benign oesophageal strictures and/or oesophageal perforation have been managed with a permanent oesophageal tube (POT) introduced through a cervical oesophagostomy. Sixty-eight patients had severe strictures of varying etiology. In these patients, the conservative treatment by bouginage could not be continued due to a stricture unyielding for dilatation or early recurrence of the stricture after a number of dilatations. Eleven of these patients had iatrogen oesophageal perforation at the time the treatment with POT was started. In 16 patients indication for treatment with POT was a severe injury of the oesophagus and in 15 of them it was transmural. The results of the treatment are considered to be satisfactory. The mortality rate, the final results and the factors determining poor results of the treatment are discussed. The treatment with POT introduced through a cervical oesophagostomy is considered to be a valuable method which can be used in cases with stricture and injuries of the oesophagus in which conventional conservative treatment is futile or impossible and resection of the oesophagus undesirable.