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  Background & Objectives: Esophageal carcinoma has more prevalency in northwest of Iran. Relapsing dysphagea after esophagectomy is one of the common delayed complication. It emerges due to technique of surgery. Reflux and or leakage in anastomotic area. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence and etiologies of dysphagea after esophagectomy and postoperative endoscopic dilation results.

  Methods: This is a retrospective discreptive study, during 2000-2005 at Imam Khomeini hospital, all patients who had esophagectomy because of esophageal carcinomas entered this study. Data collected from medical records, Primary tumoral diagnosis, operation endoscopy, dysphagea, histopathological findings, Postoperative complications, especially dysphagia and it’s etiology, and different methods of therapy, reoperation and or endoscopic dilatation were studied.

  Results: Among 324 patients 81 patients had esophagectomy for esophageal carcinomas. In eighteen patients (22.2%), dysphagea reappered after operation. Rate of dysphagea in patients with carcinoma of lower one third area was 5.3 times greater than middle third of the esophagus. Mean time between first hospitalization and second hospitalization due to relapsing dysphagea was 10.03 months. The main cause of relapsing dysphagia in 88.24%, was benign stricture in anastomotic area. 17 patients with endoscopic dilation and one patient with surgical stricturoplasty, were treated.

Conclusion: Relapsing dysphagea after esophagectomy is common in our patients. This represents mostly benign strictures after esophagectomies for esophageal carcinoma. In benign anastomotic strictures, endoscopic dilation is an effective treatment and it is recommended.