Malignant esophageal strictures: treatment with a self-expanding nitinol stent

A self-expanding esophageal nitinol stent was implanted under fluoroscopic guidance in 40 patients with malignant esophageal strictures and clinically significant dysphagia. The strictures were caused by squamous cell carcinoma (n = 14), adenocarcinoma (n = 12), recurrent anastomotic carcinoma (n = 8), and mediastinal tumors (n = 6). Eight stents were balloon dilated to maximum diameter immediately after insertion. Sixteen stents self-expanded to maximum diameter within 24 hours, and the other stents expanded to maximum diameter during further observation. There were no serious stent-related complications, and the dysphagia was reduced considerably in all patients immediately after stent insertion. Persistent tumor bleeding occurred in two patients, and ingrowth of tumor into the stent was seen in eight patients. Two stents occluded due to tumor ingrowth but were successfully recanalized with endoscopic laser coagulation. At the end of the study, 28 patients were dead with a mean survival of 2.9 months (range, 0.1-7.0 months), and 12 patients were alive with a mean follow-up of 8.8 months (range, 4.0-15.0 months).