[Clinical application of expandable metallic stent for intractable benign biliary strictures]

Four patients with benign biliary stricture were treated with expandable metallic stent (EMS). In these patients, conventional dilating methods such as balloon dilatation and/or insertion of a tube stent had been attempted before the application of EMS placement without sufficient effects. Successful insertion of EMS was attained in each case, and led to the removal of the external drainage catheter. During the observation period, no recurrent jaundice was seen. No serious complications related to the placement of EMS occurred. In our experience of only four patients with limited follow-up periods, EMS was expected, but not yet established, to be a useful method for the long-term treatment of benign biliary strictures. We emphasize for the present that EMS should be so positioned as not to interfere with any possible successive treatment including surgical intervention.