Effectiveness of intralesional steroid injections with dilatation in corrosive oesophageal strictures - A Randomized Control Trial

OBJECTIVE: To compare the improvement of dilatation among patients receiving intralesional steroid injection with dilatation versus dilatation alone for the management of corrosive ooesophageal strictures.

METHODS: The randomized controlled trial was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from November 10, 2014, to November 10, 2015, and comprised patients of either gender aged 15-50years who had corrosive ooesophageal stricture. They were randomised into 2 groups by using the lottery method. In the dilatation group, only endoscopic dilation was done, while in the combination group, intralesional triamcinolone injection was injected followed by dilatation. Follow-up endoscopic dilatation was done every two weeks. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.

RESULTS: There were 60 patients randomised into two groups of 30(50%) each. The overall mean age was 32.58±10.58 years and the male-to-female ratio was 1.7:1. At baseline, in dilatation group, the mean stricture length was 23.30±2.28cm while in combination group, it was 24.23±3.06cm. In dilatation group, the mean stricture length was 11.20±3.09cm while in combination group, it was 5.33±3.09cm (p=0.0001)..

CONCLUSIONS: oesophageal Combination group was more effective than the dilatation-alone group.