The approach of balloon dilatation treatment in hypopharyngeal stenosis developing after radiotherapy in patient with total laryngectomy
Ahmet Kutluhan1, Elif Ersoy Çallıoğlu2, Kazım Bozdemir1, Özmen Kara2
1Yıldırım Beyazıd Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye
2Atatürk Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Kliniği, Ankara, Türkiye
Keywords: Esophageal stricture, hypopharyngeal stricture, larynx carcinoma, radiotherapy.
Abstract
Radiotherapy administered to head and neck region is a risk factor for the development of stricture in hypopharynx. The mechanism underlying the stricture developing after radiotherapy is fibrosis due to ischemia caused by obliterative endarteritis occurring on the wall of esophagus and hypopharynx. Benign strictures still remain as a clinically troublesome problem because of their high frequency and high rate of recurrence following the treatment. Stenosis reveals itself as dysphagia first with solid and then with liquid food. Balloon dilatation is used as an efficient and safe method in its treatment. In this article, we report the balloon dilatation treatment method used in a 65-year-old male case, who underwent total laryngectomy owing to T3N0M0 larynx carcinoma and then underwent radiotherapy upon the detection of thyroid cartilage invasion in the pathological examination, with the development of stenosis in the second year after the operation.