Through-the-scope stent for malignant gastric outlet obstruction

This report is of the technique and results for through-the-scope stent in palliating malignant gastric outlet obstruction for 17 patients. All procedures were done using conscious sedation and fluoroscopy. Enteral Wallstents with a diameter of 20 mm or 22 mm and length 60 mm or 90 mm were used and delivered over a guidewire through an endoscope with an operating channel of at least 3.7 mm. A total of 18 stents were placed. One stent failed to be deployed. One stent migrated and required insertion of a second stent. One patient required repeat endoscopy to stop bleeding from the tumour. Through-the-scope stent relieved obstructive symptoms for 14 (82%) patients. The median dysphagia score improved from 4 to 2 after through-the-scope stent (P=0.001). The median overall survival and hospital-free survival time was 6 weeks (interquartile range, 3-9 weeks) and 4 weeks (interquartile range, 1-7 weeks), respectively. To conclude, through-the-scope stent was safe and feasible, offering an alternative minimal invasive method to palliate obstructive symptoms for patients with inoperable tumours causing gastric outlet obstruction.