Efficacy and safety of digestive tract stent placement under direct visual endoscopy without X-ray monitoring in treatment of digestive tract stricture

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of digestive tract stent implantation under direct visual endoscopy without X-ray monitoring in the treatment of digestive tract stricture. The clinical data of patients undergoing digestive tract stent placement under direct visual endoscopy without X-ray monitoring in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine from March 2003 to November 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The process of procedures, the postoperative complications and the postoperative follow-up data were documented. The survival time of patients with malignant gastrointestinal stricture was compared between those with and without stent implantation. Among 562 patients, there were 310 cases of esophagus and cardia stricture, 40 cases of gastroduodenus stricture, 212 cases of colorectum stricture, and 63 cases with esophagus-tracheal fistula,esophagus-mediastinal fistula or anastomotic fistula. The stents were implanted successfully in 560 cases (99.64%) and the symptoms were alleviated in all patients after stent implantation (100%). Postoperative substernal discomfort, chest pain or abdominal pain occurred in 26 cases (4.64%), bleeding in 18 cases (3.21%), displacement of esophageal stents in 9 cases (1.61%), and restenosis in 15 cases (2.68%), in whom the stents were successfully placed again. None of the patients died within 7 days after the procedure. The incidence of postoperative abdominal pain, bleeding and stent displacement in esophageal/cardiac stricture patients was higher than that in the colorectal stricture patients (P<0.05). In 284 cases of malignant stenosis, the median survival time of colorectal stricture patients[(27.5±1.94) months] was significantly higher than that of esophagus/cardia stricture patients[(13.40±0.71) months] and gastroduodenal stricture patients[(11.00±1.78) months]. The survival time of stenting patients with upper gastrointestinal malignant stenosis was significantly longer than that of the non-stenting patients (P<0.05). Stent implantation under direct visual endoscopy without X-ray monitoring is safe and effective for the treatment of benign and malignant stricture of digestive tract and closure of fistula.