Comparative study of self-expandable stent placement, bougie dilation, and balloon dilation for post-inflammatory oesophageal strictures

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of enrolled patients, n (%)/mean ± SD

	Stent group	Bougie group	Balloon group	P value
Number of patients	16	20	22
Gender (male)	12 (75.0)	14 (70.0)	16 (72.7)	0.9451
Mean age, years	58.1 ± 19.4	61.7 ± 17.0	60.5 ± 16.3	0.8270
Symptom duration (months)	6.0 (2.0, 12.0)	9.0 (5.3, 24.0)	11.0 (0.6, 24.0)	0.4413
Stricture causes				0.2942
Peptic ulcer disease	7 (43.7)	4 (20.0)	4 (18.2)
Reflux esophagitis	4 (25.0)	6 (30.0)	10 (45.4)
Others1	5 (31.3)	10 (50.0)	8 (36.4)
Degree of stricture				0.3193
Severe stricture	14 (87.5)	12 (60.0)	16 (72.7)
Moderate stricture	2 (12.5)	7 (35.0)	4 (18.2)
Mild stricture	0 (0.0)	1 (5.0)	2 (9.1)
Location of stricture				0.2910
Cervical and upper esophagus	3 (18.8)	8 (40.0)	7 (31.8)
Middle and lower esophagus	4 (25.0)	2 (10.0)	1 (4.5)
Lower esophagus and cardia	9 (56.3)	10 (50.0)	14 (63.6)
Stricture type				0.1446
Focal strictures or not evaluated	3 (18.8)	6 (30.0)	6 (27.3)
Segmental strictures	3 (18.8)	9 (45.0)	10 (45.5)
Long strictures	10 (62.5)	5 (25.0)	6 (27.3)

¹Other inflammatory esophagitis include fungal esophagitis, syphilitic esophagitis, and chronic oesophageal mucosal inflammation.