A newly designed big cup nitinol stent for gastric outlet obstruction

To find out whether a newly designed big cup nitinol stent is suitable for treatment of patients with gastric outlet obstruction resulting from gastric cancer.

The new stent is composed of a proximal big cup segment (20 mm in length and 48-55 mm in diameter), a middle part (60 mm in length and 20 mm in diameter) covered by a polyethylene membrane and a distal sphericity (20 mm in length and 28 mm in diameter). Half of the proximal big cup segment is also covered by a polyethylene membrane, which is adjacent to the middle part of the stent. The stent is preloaded in a 6.0-mm-diameter introducer system. Thirteen patients with gastric outlet obstruction resulting from gastric cancer received the new stents under endoscopic and fluoroscopic guidance.

Technical success was achieved in 12 of 13 (92.3%) patients. Among the 12 patients in whom endoscopic stent was placed successfully, the clinical success rate was 91.7% during a follow-up of average 6.5 mo. During the first month follow-up, the migration rate was 0%, recurrent obstruction 0% and gastric bleeding 8.3%. During the follow-up between 2-12 mo, no migration, recurrent obstruction and gastric bleeding occurred.

The proximal big cup segment seems to be effective and promising for technical efficacy, clinical outcome, and preventing migration and tumor ingrowth and increasing the emptying rate of sinus ventriculi.