Balloon tamponade

Balloon tamponade refers to the use of balloonsinstilled into typically the esophagusor stomach, and inflated to stop bleeding from vascular structures in the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Many balloons dedicated for bleeding from different structures exist, with volume capacities and aspiration ports tailored for the specific application.

Examples include:

• Sengstaaken-Blakemore tube, with esophageal balloon, and gastric and esophageal aspirates
• Linton tube, with large gastric balloon, and gastric and esophageal aspirates
• Minnesota four-lumen balloon with esophageal and gastric balloons, and esophageal and gastric aspirates.

Balloon tamponade is generally considered a bridge to more definitive treatment modalities, and is usually administrered in the intensive care unitsetting, due to the illness of patients, and the complications of the procedure.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon+tamponade Wikipedia article Balloon tamponade.