The Outcome of Fluoroscopically Guided Balloon Dilation of Pyloric Stricture in Crohn Disease

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of fluoroscopically guided balloon dilation for pyloric stricture associated with Crohn disease (CD) while monitoring the outcome. Materials and Methods: Five patients (age range 15-34 y) were diagnosed with symptomatic pyloric stricture associated with CD between November 2006 and August 2009. All five patients underwent fluoroscopically guided balloon dilation one or more times. Results: The initial balloon dilations were technically successful in all patients. Two patients showed improvement of symptoms without further need of dilation, two patients had one more session of dilation, and one patient underwent two more sessions of repeated dilation. There were no procedure-related complications. Overall technical and clinical success rates were 100%. After the last dilation, all patients remained healthy, with no case of relapse of obstructive symptoms during the median follow-up of 16 months (range 6-22 mo). Conclusions: Fluoroscopically guided balloon dilation seems to be a useful tool for management of symptomatic pyloric stricture in CD and may be a viable alternative to open surgery.