Prospective study of the effect of topical application of Mitomycin C in refractory pediatric caustic esophageal strictures.

Background: Esophageal strictures resulting from caustic ingestion in children are usually difficult to be managed, and surgical replacement is usually required for cases refractory to frequent dilatation sessions. Topical Mitomycin C (MMC) has been recently used in the management of resistant strictures. We evaluated the efficacy of MMC application in treatment of long refractory caustic esophageal strictures.

Methods: This prospective study included 120 patients of both sexes with refractory caustic long esophageal strictures (> 3 cm in length). All patients were randomly divided into two equal groups using the research randomizer program (1:1 randomization), group I underwent endoscopic dilatation therapy only and group II underwent dilatation with topical application of MMC. Follow-up was done regularly by assessing the dysphagia score and patients were evaluated after 6 months of management. The procedure was repeated four times with 2-week intervals. Complete relieve of symptoms (dysphagia score = 0) was assessed after the follow-up period.

Results: The complete cure was detected in 81.6% of patients in the MMC group compared to only 40% in the first group, p-value < 0.0001. During the follow-up, the average sessions of dilatation needed in group II were 3.25 ± 2.78 compared to 6.25 ± 1.74 sessions in group I (p < 0.001). The mean cost of sessions in patients who showed symptomatic and endoscopic improvement was significantly lower in group II (272.2 ± 51 US$) when compared to group I (404 ± SD 55.7 US$).

Conclusions: Cure rate was double in the MMC group. MMC application significantly improved symptoms and reduced both the number and frequency of dilatations to alleviate dysphagia in patients with refractory caustic esophageal strictures and hence reduced the cost of treatment.