Gut Liver.  2014 Jul;8(4):400-407.

Clinical Outcomes Associated with Treatment Modalities for Gastrointestinal Bezoars

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Gastroenterology and Asan Digestive Disease Institute, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. hyjung@amc.seoul.kr

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
With technical and instrumental advances, the endoscopic removal of bezoars is now more common than conventional surgical removal. We investigated the clinical outcomes in a patient cohort with gastrointestinal bezoars removed using different treatment modalities.
METHODS
Between June 1989 and March 2012, 93 patients with gastrointestinal bezoars underwent endoscopic or surgical procedures at the Asan Medical Center. These patients were divided into endoscopic (n=39) and surgical (n=54) treatment groups in accordance with the initial treatment modality. The clinical feature and outcomes of these two groups were analyzed retrospectively.
RESULTS
The median follow-up period was 13 months (interquartile range [IQR], 0 to 77 months) in 93 patients with a median age of 60 years (IQR, 50 to 73 years). Among the initial symptoms, abdominal pain was the most common chief complaint (72.1%). The bezoars were commonly located in the stomach (82.1%) in the endoscopic treatment group and in the small bowel (66.7%) in the surgical treatment group. The success rates of endoscopic and surgical treatment were 89.7% and 98.1%, and the complication rates were 12.8% and 33.3%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
Endoscopic removal of a gastrointestinal bezoar is an effective treatment modality; however, surgical removal is needed in some cases.

Keyword

Bezoars; Endoscopy; Surgery

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Pain/etiology
Aged
Bezoars/diagnosis/*surgery
Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal/methods
Female
Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis/*surgery
Humans
Lithotripsy/methods
Male
Middle Aged
Retrospective Studies
Treatment Outcome
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