Double-layered PTFE-covered nitinol stents: experience in 32 patients with malignant esophageal strictures

We evaluated the effectiveness of a double-layered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-covered nitinol stent in the palliative treatment of malignant esophageal strictures. A double-layered PTFE-covered nitinol stent was designed to reduce the propensity to migration of conventional covered stent. The stent consists of an inner PTFE-covered stent and an outer uncovered nitinol stent tube. With fluoroscopic guidance, the stent was placed in 32 consecutive patients with malignant esophageal strictures. During the follow-up period, the technical and clinical success rates, complications, and cumulative patient survival and stent patency were evaluated. Stent placement was technically successful in all patients, and no procedural complications occurred. After stent placement, the symptoms of 30 patients (94%) showed improvement. During the mean follow-up of 103 days (range, 9-348 days), 11 (34%) of 32 patients developed recurrent symptoms due to tumor overgrowth in five patients (16%), tumor ingrowth owing to detachment of the covering material (PTFE) apart from the stent wire in 3 (9%), mucosal hyperplasia in 2 (6%), and stent migration in 1 (3%). Ten of these 11 patients were treated by means of placing a second covered stent. Thirty patients died, 29 as a result of disease progression and 1 from aspiration pneumonia. The median survival period was 92 days. The median period of primary stent patency was 190 days. The double-layered PTFE-covered nitinol stent seems to be effective for the palliative treatment of malignant esophageal strictures. We believe that the double-layer configuration of this stent can contribute to decreasing the stent's migration rate.