A Case of Endoscopic Removal of Impacted Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube / 대한소화기내시경학회지

ABSTRACT

A Sengstaken-Blakemore (S-B) tube has been widely used to treatment of bleeding esophageal varices. It controls bleeding in 50~92% of cases and provide more time to plan future management. However, there are a number of complications with its use, some of which are lethal. We recently observed a very unusual complication of a S-B tube, namely an impaction of the gastric balloon at the gastroesophageal junction, which could not be deflated by removing the clamps and suctioning the air with a syringe. The gastric balloon was punctured endoscopically with needle knife and deflated. The S-B tube was then be easily removed.