Table 1. Data on patients.

	Sex	Age	Location of perforation or esopha­geal insuffi­ciency	Cause	Location of sponge	Duration of treatment	No. of sponge exchanges	Sedation vs. anesthesia	Time from detec­tion to start of treatment	Success
1	Male	64	Esophagus 32 cm	Anastomotic insufficiency after thoracoabdominal resection of the esophagus	Extraluminal	5 months	39	Anesthesia	> 24 h (12 weeks)	No
2	Female	83	Esophagus 16 cm	Iatrogenic endoscopic perforation	Intraluminal	5 days	0	Anesthesia	< 24 h	Yes
3	Male	87	Esophagus 17 cm	Anastomotic insufficiency after thoracoabdominal resection of the esophagus	Extraluminal	4 days	1	Anesthesia	> 24 h	No
4	Male	72	Piriform recess/proximal esophagus	Iatrogenic perforation after removal of a foreign body (dental prothesis)	Intraluminal	5 days	0	Anesthesia	20 h	Yes
5	Male	65	Esophagus 28 cm	Anastomotic insufficiency after thoracoabdominal resection of the esophagus	Intraluminal	12 days	2	Sedation	> 24 h	Yes
6	Female	57	Esophagus 22 cm	Perforation by a foreign body (peach pit)	Extraluminal	26 days	6	Anesthesia	> 24 h	Yes
7	Female	77	Piriform recess/ proximal esophagus	Iatrogenic perforation during intubation	Intraluminal	5 days	0	Anesthesia	> 24 h	Yes
8	Female	76	Esophagus 33 cm	Anastomotic insufficiency after thoracoabdominal resection of the esophagus	Extraluminal	4 days	0	Sedation	< 24 h	Yes
9	Male	64	Esophagus 28 cm	Anastomotic insufficiency after thoracoabdominal resection of the esophagus	Extraluminal	1 day	0	Sedation	< 24 h	No; surgical closure of the leak
10	Female	94	Esophagus 20 cm	Iatrogenic endoscopic perforation	Extraluminal	24 days	4	Anesthesia	> 24 h (16 days)	Yes