Lumen-Apposing Metal Stents in Benign Gastrointestinal Luminal Strictures

Abstract

Benign strictures of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are common and most frequently found in the foregut with varying etiologies including peptic disease, complications of surgical anastomoses, inflammatory diseases, and radiation therapy. Endoscopic dilation, with balloons or bougies, remains the first-line treatment and continues to be clinically effective even if requiring repeated interventions in most cases.1 However there remains a subset of patients in whom an adequate dilation of at least 14 mm cannot be safely achieved even after 5, short-interval consecutive sessions (ie, refractory strictures); or in whom an adequate luminal size is not maintained for at least 4 weeks after attaining a dilation >14 mm (ie, recurrent strictures).