Palliation of malignant esophageal strictures: initial results with self-expanding uncovered nitinol coil stents

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of the uncovered coil stents in patients with malignant dysphagia. Coiled spring-shaped uncovered self-expanding metallic Esophacoil stents (Instent, Eden Prairie, Minnesota) were placed in 11 patients (9 men and 2 women; age range 38-77 years, mean age 60.5 years) with malignant esophageal strictures and dysphagia, under fluoroscopic guidance. Dysphagia was graded on a scale of 0 to 4 (0 = no dysphagia; 1 = dysphagia to normal solids; 2 = dysphagia to soft solids; 3 = dysphagia to solids and liquids; 4 = complete dysphagia, inability to swallow saliva). Two patients had received radiation therapy, 4 had had chemotherapy, and 5 had had a combination of both radiation and chemotherapy before stent palliation. Control clinical examinations and endoscopic or barium swallow studies were performed every 4 weeks until the patient died. The stents were well tolerated by all patients and were effective in 9 of 11 patients with malignant dysphagia. Complications of the procedure included incomplete opening of the stent in 1 case, migration in 1 case, transient pain in 8 cases, reflux in 3 cases and minor gastrointestinal bleeding in 2 cases. Stent migration in 1 case resulted in surgical intervention and incomplete opening of the stent allowed only partial improvement of dysphagia in 1 case. The quality of life significantly improved in all other patients. Mean survival time of the patients was 73 days (range 34-125 days) and no significant tumor ingrowth was detected during the follow-up period. Insertion of an Esophacoil has a good palliative effect on dysphagia in patients with malignant esophageal strictures with few complications. Although the stent is uncovered, tumor ingrowth and overgrowth were not observed in our study, possibly because of previous treatments.