title: Status and literature review of self-expandable metallic stents for malignant colorectal obstruction.
abstract: Use of colorectal stents has increased dramatically over the last decades. Colorectal stents offer an alternative way to relieve fatal intestinal obstruction and can take place of emergency surgery, which associated with significant morbidity and mortality and a high incidence of stoma creation, to elective resection. Although there remain a few concerns regarding the use of stents as a bridge to surgical resection, use of self-expandable metallic stents for palliation in patients with unresectable disease has come to be generally accepted. Advantages of colorectal stents include acute restoration of luminal patency and allowance of time for proper staging and surgical optimization, and the well-known disadvantages are procedure-related complications including perforation, migration, and stent failure. General indications, procedures, and clinical outcomes as well as recent evidences regarding the use of colorectal stents will be discussed in this review.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dae Young
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Kook
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Chang Heon
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: Colorectal neoplasms; Obstruction; Self-expanding metallic stents