Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2020; 8(11): 2359-2363
Published online Jun 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i11.2359
Endoscopic pedicle flap grafting in the treatment of esophageal fistulas: A case report
Yu-Hang Zhang, Jiang Du, Chuan-Hui Li, Bing Hu
Yu-Hang Zhang, Jiang Du, Chuan-Hui Li, Bing Hu, Department of Gastroenterology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Hu B contributed to procedure performance and revision of the manuscript; Du J and Li CH contributed to procedure assistance; Zhang YH contributed to drafting of the manuscript; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors disclosed no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bing Hu, MD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 37, Guo Xue Alley, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. hubingnj@163.com
Received: March 11, 2020
Peer-review started: March 11, 2020
First decision: April 14, 2020
Revised: April 27, 2020
Accepted: May 14, 2020
Article in press: May 14, 2020
Published online: June 6, 2020
Processing time: 86 Days and 22.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Transplantation of muscle flaps or omental ones for esophageal leakage or fistula from outside the wall is reported to be effective. But surgical intervention often has postoperative morbidities and is contraindicated when the patient has poor health conditions. We developed this endoscopic pedicle grafting method based on the hypothesis that a mucosal flap could induce epithelization. Our single case study showed that the flap can heal a small fistula orifice and can reduce large one. It exhibits the potential to cure selected esophageal fistulas when surgery is not viable.