Endoscopic management of esophageal strictures.

Esophageal strictures remain a commonly encountered clinical entity. These strictures arise because of a wide variety of benign and malignant conditions. Dysphagia, the most common symptom, occurs when a stricture causes greater than 50% of the esophageal lumen to be obstructed as a result of benign or malignant disease. From a treatment point of view, some esophageal strictures are readily treated via minimally invasive and low-risk means, whereas others can be refractory and recalcitrant to the most aggressive endoscopic therapies. In this article we review the current state of the endoscopic management of esophageal strictures and primarily focus on evidence presented in well-constructed studies published to date.