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Many patients have difficulty swallowing due to narrowing of the esophagus. Benign esophageal strictures can be challenging to treat, with the main treatment being endoscopic dilations. Often, repeated upper endoscopies are required to maintain successful swallowing. These procedures are costly and their efficacy can be short-lived. Gastroenterologists at Mayo Clinic offer a more convenient and effective method that may lessen the frustrations and challenges of repeated endoscopies–esophageal self dilation therapy or ESDT.
Esophageal self-dilation involves teaching the patient how to dilate their esophagus orally, on a routine basis with the help of a simple medical device–a polyvinyl dilator. Besides being successful, researchers also found that ESDT could lead to the removal of feeding tubes that were previously required to get food into the gastrointestinal tract.
Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, Dr. Magnus Halland, M.D., encourages patients with swallowing difficulties due to narrowing of the esophagus, to visit Mayo Clinic to see if they may be candidates to learn ESDT. Dr. Halland also talks about the open clinical trial linked to ESDT at Mayo Clinic.
Meet other people talking about esophageal disorders on Mayo Clinic Connect. Here are some discussions you might like to view–join the conversation, share experiences, ask questions, and discover your support network...
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@jrbkan hi , sorry for taking so long, I don’t see these posts as they come in,
You should do your dilation first with doctor, ideally at hospital and under his supervision. Many people do it but it has to be done carefully so you don’t damage your esophagus. Your dilator thickness should not be thicker than what your esophagus measures when they first dilate it. In my case they would first dilate to 17 mm for a couple of minutes then they would ho to 18, then 20mm, so my first dilator I purchased was 17mm. You can dm me to info@royalmarine.net and mention “ dilation “
I highly recommend you are supervised the first self dilation
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1 Reaction@manuelo Hey, I appreciate your advice and was waiting to have my procedure before getting back to you. This was my first dilation, and it went well.
How long did your dilation last before you started self-dilating to keep it open? It's been a week, and I feel like my throat is already starting to tighten up.
What was it like to increase the size, and at what size did you stop?
Are you still dilating?
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