A Novel Endoscopic Method to Relieve Food Impaction Using an Inflatable Balloon

Abstract

Food impaction in the esophagus is a relatively common medical emergency. Most of these food impactions are relieved spontaneously. But for complete esophageal food impactions or impactions not relieved spontaneously, traditional endoscopic methods like using a Roth net, polypectomy snare, or rat or alligator tooth forceps are used to gently manipulate the food material into the stomach. However, these methods may not work in certain circumstances. We present a case of proximal esophageal food impaction that was relieved using an inflatable balloon after the conventional methods proved unsuccessful.