When the Jackson-Plummer dilating set for esophageal stricture is used (Fig. 1), the patient must first swallow approximately 4 yd. of 00 silk. At the time of the dilation, the exposed end of the swallowed silk is introduced or threaded through the perforated flexible-metal spiral tip which is used as a guide for the whale-bone staff threaded with sippy, conically shaped olive dilators. The threading of the silk through the spiral tip can be a difficult step, time-consuming, laborious, and annoying. Although other methods will eventually succeed, we have found the following method simple and most convenient:
Take an 8 in. length of No. 4 wire (nasal snare wire) and make a small eye at one end by looping it over. Pass the other end of this wire through the perforation in the spiral tip and, with the silk threaded through the loop (Fig. 2), pull the wire through. The