Esophageal food bolus obstruction: evaluation of extraction and modified push techniques in 75 cases.

Background And Study Aims: Endoscopic extraction is the standard method of treating esophageal food bolus obstructions. The efficacy, efficiency, and safety of various techniques used over a 12-year period were evaluated.

Patients And Methods: Seventy-five procedures with soft food bolus obstruction were analyzed.

Colonic chicken skin mucosa: an endoscopic and histological abnormality adjacent to colonic neoplasms.

Objectives: We recently described an endoscopic finding of pale yellow-speckled mucosa adjacent to colonic neoplasms. This resembled the appearance of chicken skin and was named chicken skin mucosa (CSM). CSM differs from previously reported gastrointestinal xanthelasmas in that this entity always occurs in association with colonic neoplasms.

Long-term safety of India ink tattoos in the colon.

Background: When the India ink tattoo is used as a guide for follow-up examinations, the tattoo may remain in the colon for the remainder of that patient's life. This raises the question of the long-term safety of India ink tattoos. The long-term clinical and histologic consequences of the tattoo have not been studied in a large group of patients.

Endoscopic abnormalities of the anastomosis following resection of colonic neoplasm.

When 321 patients with resections for colonic neoplasms were prospectively evaluated for changes occurring at the anastomosis, eight different kinds were found (118 abnormalities seen in total). Inflammatory polyps, the most commonly observed abnormality (14.5%), may be misinterpreted as recurrent neoplasia by endoscopy.

Adhesion-related variceal hemorrhage following sclerosis of esophageal varices.

A 78-year-old woman with portal hypertension had recurrent episodes of lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage two months after bleeding esophageal varices had been successfully treated with endoscopic injection sclerosis. Labeled red blood cell scans and mesenteric angiographic examination allowed a preoperative diagnosis of adhesion-related varices as the cause of bleeding. The problem was successfully treated by dividing the adhesion and resecting the involved small intestine.

Preoperative tattooing of polypectomy site.

A simple method of marking polypectomy site is described. It involves submucosal injection of supravital dye via the colonoscope. It permits identification of site of pathology at the time of surgery.

An improved snare system for the nonsurgical retrieval of intravascular foreign bodies.

We have modified a snare technique originally described for transcolonoscopic removal of colonic polyps for the retrieval of intravascular foreign bodies. The key difference from other snare techniques is the employment of a wire snare with a crimp in its midportion that enables the formation of a loop in a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the guiding catheter. With this technique we have quickly removed a variety of objects from the right heart and pulmonary arteries in four patients.

Radiographic characteristics of colonic "mucosal bridges": sequelae of inflammatory bowel disease.

Colonic mucosal bridges are a relatively unusual entity occurring in patients with inflammatory disease of the colon. The authors describe two cases in which the pattern of multiple long, linear band-like defects may be easily misinterpreted as thickened mucosal folds, mucous strands, or foreign matter. The possibility of mucosal bridges should be considered if this radiographic pattern is demonstrated, and the patient's history is compatible with their formation.

Biliary matrix: matrix stones as a cause of biliary obstruction.

The biliary tree secretes a mucous substance which serves as a matrix in gallstones. A case of biliary obstruction secondary to a matrix stone is reported. The characteristics and significance of biliary matrix are discussed.