It was revealed that types of treatment did not make any significant difference in the patients' final outcomes (P: 0.78) (Table 3).

No significant relationship between stricture etiology and the patient's final outcome were found (P: 0.82) (Table 4).

Discussion

It was realized that in most of the cases, esophageal stricture was a complication of esophageal atresia surgery.

Also, it was revealed that most of the cases were affected in the proximal esophagus.

Most patients were treated by a combination of dilatation and surgery; however, there was not any significant differences in final outcomes between the different types of intervention. Most of the patients recovered after receiving the appropriate treatment.

In a study (4) conducted on 38 children between one

month to 10 years of age from 1998 to 2006 in Jordan, the mean age was 3.2 years.  Among acquired esophageal stricture, corrosive induced damages was the most common (47.3%). Complications of esophageal atresia surgery (23.6%), surgical repair of hiatal hernia (10.5 %) and GERD (7.8%) were among other causes of stricture.

It was found that each patient underwent 20.1±17.3 dilatation procedures on average. Also, patients who suffered from stricture caused by corrosives injuries required more frequent dilatation than others
 (i.e. 34.2±16.6 vs. 10.4±8.2 dilatations).

Dilatations were successful in the majority of cases (84.2%). In another study (9), it was revealed that 35 out of 287 esophageal strictures were a consequence of corrosives ingestion. Jones (5) reported three cases of congenital esophageal stenoses. In one of these cases, the presenting complaint was severe failure to thrive without any symptoms of vomiting or dysphagia.

This patient had a good response to esophageal dilatation. The second case presented with dysphagia and vomiting and only tolerated liquids. Further evaluations revealed a narrowing in gastroesophageal junction with a proximal dilatation in barium meal study. This patient was diagnosed with achalasia later on and was treated successfully with dilatation procedure. The third case presented with esophageal stenosis in association with esophageal atresia and TEF in VACTERL syndrome. The main presenting symptom was dysphagia. Barium meal study revealed no stricture in the anastomosis region, but a stricture was apparent in the distal esophagus. Dilatation was performed, and she was treated successfully.

In another study (9) carried out on 17 patients between three months to nine years of age
(mean age: 7.6 months) from 1995 to 2005 in Egypt, most of the cases were male, and the most common presenting symptoms included vomiting (64.7%), failure to thrive(47%), and dysphagia (41.2%). Most of the cases (11 patients), were successfully treated with dilatation. The others (six cases) needed surgical intervention. Most of the lesions were located in distal esophagus. In one other similar study (10), 20 cases of esophageal stricture between 17 days to 12 years of age from 1994 to 1998 in China were studied. The patients were divided into two groups. Group one consisted of those with congenital esophageal atresia (10 cases), and Group two was comprised of the cases with acquired esophageal stenosis.

All the group one cases were successfully treated with dilatation procedure whereas in the second group, only seven out of 10 patients were successfully treated by dilatation and the remaining three (all of which were corrosive-induced injuries) did not respond to esophageal dilatation. There were some differences in the results of our study in comparison to others'. This may be due to the differences in ethical considerations, geographic features, and life habits.

Conclusion 

 In our study, stricture after surgical repair of esophageal atresia was the most common cause of esophageal strictures. Most of the lesions were located in proximal esophagus. The majority of the patients recovered with dilatation, surgery, or a combination of both.