Self-expandable metal coil stents in the treatment of benign esophageal strictures refractory to conventional therapy: a case series

Prospective evaluation of a new self-expanding plastic stent for inoperable esophageal strictures

“…There have been a few reports describing the use of metallic stents for benign esophageal strictures refractory to conventional treatment [4,13]. However, the use of metal stents for such benign strictures has been associated with a high delayed complication rate [13].…”

Endoscopic treatment of benign gastrointestinal anastomotic strictures using argon plasma coagulation in combination with diathermy

“…Recently, patients with severe and refractory benign anastomotic strictures have been treated with self-expandable metal stents [3,11,13]. However, both acute and chronic complications (bleeding, perforation, migration) and the cost of this procedure may limit the unrestricted use of this technique [3,11].…”

“…The mean length was 6.1 mm (range, 3-10). The mean diameter of the strictures was 5.2 mm (range, [3][4][5][6][7][8]. All colorectal strictures were located 5 to 16 cm from the anal sphincter.…”

Stents in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

“…These reports show that SEMS are associated with high rates of complications. The most commonly reported are stent migration occurring in 12.5-31%, new stricture formation in 20-100% and fistula formation in 6-33% of patients (Sandha & Marcon, 1999;Fiorini et al, 2000;Ackroyd et al, 2001;Wadhwa et al, 2003). Stent migration is more likely to occur with covered stents while uncovered stents or partially covered stents become embedded in the tissue making their removal difficult and traumatic.…”