Carbonated Soda Treatment of Phytobezoars

Carbonated soda treatment of phytobezoars is the use of carbonated soda to try to dissolve a phytobezoar, a solid mass of undigested plant material trapped in the gastrointestinal tract, typically the stomach. The approach has been proposed as a non-invasive alternative to surgery or endoscopy, proving effective in roughly half of gastric cases when carbonated soda is used alone, with success rates reported as high as 91.3 percent when the soda treatment is combined with endoscopic techniques.