A decade of day-case endoscopically guided stent placement in malignant oesophagogastric strictures.
Self-expanding metal stents (SEMSs) are the palliative treatment of choice for rapid symptomatic relief in patients with malignant dysphagia. Increasingly endoscopically guided insertion is performed as a day case and without the need for fluoroscopic guidance. This consecutive case series reports 11-year experience of endoscopically guided SEMS insertion in a large UK specialist oesophagogastric unit.



Patients undergoing stent insertion for malignant dysphagia between 2003 and 2014 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Data on patient demographics, tumour characteristics, indications, technique of insertion, complications, and need for re-intervention were abstracted and then corroborated by retrospective review of electronic case records.



A total of 362 patients with a median age of 76 years underwent primary SEMS insertion under endoscopic guidance. Repeat endoscopic intervention was required in 26 patients within 30 days and 59 patients within 90 days of primary insertion, giving Kaplan-Meier estimated re-intervention rates of 7.7 % and 20.3 %, respectively. Higher tumours were associated with need for repeat intervention (p = 0.014). The most frequent repeat intervention was insertion of a new stent, most commonly for stent migration or tumour overgrowth. Out of 252, 222 (88.1 %) patients referred through a rapid access pathway were stented as day cases, and the 30-day readmission rate in this cohort did not differ significantly from patients stented as inpatients (p = 0.774). Three (0.8 %) patients suffered a perforation, and there was a single procedure-related death.



This large consecutive case series demonstrates that endoscopically guided SEMS insertion in malignant dysphagia can be performed efficiently as a day case with low complication, readmission, and re-intervention rates.
Department of Oesophagogastric Surgery, Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK. mxa891@hotmail.com.
L M
LM
Almond
Department of Oesophagogastric Surgery, Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.
K
K
Patel
Department of Oesophagogastric Surgery, Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.
L
L
Keast
Department of Medical Statistics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
J
J
Hodson
Department of Oesophagogastric Surgery, Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.
R
R
Nijjar
Department of Gastroenterology, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
P G
PG
Wilson
Department of Oesophagogastric Surgery, Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.
M
M
Richardson
Department of Oesophagogastric Surgery, Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.
R
R
Singhal
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D004940:Esophageal Stenosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000069322:Self Expandable Metallic Stents / Q000009:adverse effects; D006113:United Kingdom
Malignant dysphagia; Oesophageal cancer; Oesophagogastric junctional cancer; Palliation; Self-expanding metal stent