title: Nonoperative treatment of 15 benign esophageal perforations with self-expandable covered metal stents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spontaneous or iatrogenic esophageal perforations after endoscopic procedures are potentially life-threatening events with a considerable mortality rate. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that a nonoperative endoscopic treatment with self-expanding metal stents may have a lower morbidity and mortality rate compared with surgical treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A nonrandomized observational study was conducted with 15 consecutive patients between January 1997 and June 2004. Benign spontaneous and iatrogenic esophageal perforations after endoscopic procedures were treated with self-expandable metal stents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven patients (group 1) underwent stent insertion with an average time delay of 45 minutes. In 8 patients (group 2), the median delay was 123 hours. All patients in group 1 had an uneventful recovery and left hospital 5 days (range, 3 to 9) after stent insertion. One patient in group 2 (1 of 8) died of pneumonia after 6 days. In any other cases, perforations healed successfully after stent placement, but the clinical course was generally complicated with sepsis and multiple organ failure. The average hospital stay was 44 days (range, 15 to 70).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Immediate insertion of a self-expandable metal stent enables an excellent outcome with minimal mortality and morbidity without the need for operation. Even in cases of old esophageal perforations, sealing with self-expandable metal stents is still a good option although the clinical course is much less impressive than in early treated perforations.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Visceral Surgery, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany. andreas.fischer@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Thomusch
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Benz
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: von Dobschuetz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baier
authors.forename: Ulrich T
authors.initials: UT
authors.lastname: Hopt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D004939:Esophageal Perforation / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000209:etiology; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D018805:Sepsis; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing