Complications of endoscopically placed duodenal stents for malignant duodenal outlet obstruction

Endoscopically placed duodenal stents are commonly performed procedures for palliation of obstruction due to malignancy. A relatively small number of studies highlight the potential complications of this procedure, and to date no data have been published in New Zealand specifically addressing this issue. We aimed to retrospectively review complications from duodenal stents at our center and factors associated with the complications.

We retrospectively reviewed our endoscopy reporting system, Provation MD, for patients who underwent endoscopic duodenal stenting between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2020. We searched the system for the keywords 'prosthesis or stent', 'duodenal mass or tumour' and 'duodenal stenosis or stricture'. Their clinical records were reviewed. Patients were included if they had a duodenal stent inserted to relieve a malignant duodenal obstruction. Patients were excluded if the obstruction was due to a benign pathology or if the obstruction was proximal to duodenum. Patient demographics, the type of stent used and any stent-related complications were recorded. Previous radiotherapy to chest or abdomen was also recorded.

We identified 61 patients who underwent palliative endoscopic duodenal stenting. The overall complication rate was 15% (9/61), with five cases of stent migration, two cases of perforation and two cases of late tumour ingrowth requiring re-stenting. Three out of five stent-migration cases had non-obstructive lesions. Both the cases of perforation had previous radiotherapy.

Duodenal stenting can be performed safely in most patients with malignant duodenal obstruction. The complication rate was found to be higher among the 60-69 age group, the New Zealand Māori/Pacific Islander ethnic group, patients with Niti-S stent and those with duodenal adenocarcinoma as the primary diagnosis, but these higher rates were not found to be statistically significant. Larger studies are required to assess factors associated with complication rates.