Schatzki's ring: to cut or break an unresolved problem.

ABSTRACT

Symptom assessment has been proven to be less reliable than barium pill testing for success of dilation of peptic strictures. Schatzki's ring also has a high recurrence rate. Our aim here was to compare the efficacy of single dilatation with a 54-F Savary dilator and electrosurgical ring incision for symptomatic Schatzki's rings. Schatzki's ring patients who failed to pass a 12.7-mm barium pill were randomized to dilatation with a 54-F Savary dilator or four quadrant incisions with a needle knife. All received lansoprazole (30 mg) for 30 days posttreatment. Follow-up at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months used the pill test and a dysphagia score. Eleven patients (mean age, 62; median, 64) were randomized and received therapy, six with dilatation and five with incision. The ring diameter pretherapy was 9.8 +/- 1.3 mm. One patient with dilatation had a procedure-related esophageal perforation. The dysphagia score decreased (from 2.7 +/- 1.1 predilatation and 3.0 +/- 0.4 preincision) to 0 after treatment, suggesting that both therapies were equally successful. In contrast, using objective measurements with the barium pill showed that the pill failed to pass the ring in 60% at 1 month after therapy. The failure rate by 1 year was 100%. Use of an objective measure of effectiveness of treatment of symptomatic Schatzki's rings showed that neither single large-dilator dilatation nor four quadrant ring incision was a reliable and effective therapy. In the future studies, repeated dilatation may be needed to define success before long-term outcome can be accurately assessed.