Three Cases of Palliative Therapy for Unresectable Esophageal Cancer with Silicone Coated Self-expandable Metallic Stent

Akira Hayashibe, Hajime Tanaka, Hideki Kitoh, Kazutsugu Sakamoto, Eiji Taruya, Ken Nakaue, Zensuke Yanagi, Kanji Tokura, Kenzou Asada, Jun Takebayashi, Hiroyuki Sakuma¹⁾, Mitsugu Hatayama¹⁾, Hideo Uchida²⁾

Department of Surgery, Department of Internal Medicine¹⁾, Izumi Municipal Hospital
Department of Radiology, Nara Medical University²⁾

Three patients with unresectable esophageal cancer were treated with silicone-coated selfexpandable metallic stents. Patient 1 was a man aged 49 years with unresectable cancer of the proximal esophagus owing to esophagobronchial fistula and intrabronchial dissemination. He was treated with a silicone-coated self-expandable metallicstent as palliative therapy. Patient 2, a man aged 61 years, was diagnosed with cancer of the proximal-middle esophagus, but we could not perform a radical operation because of his severe pulmonary disfunction. Thus we found it necessary to use a metallic stent. Patient 3 was a woman aged 85 years with proximal esophageal cancer. We couldn't perform a radical operation because of her cardiopulmonary disfunction. Therefore she underwent palliative treatment with a metallic stent. After stenting, all patients were able to ingest a semi-solid diet, and quality of life (QOL) was much improved. This improvement has been sustained for 27-56 days (mean 42 days). Further trials seem needed to evaluate the clinical role of this palliative treatment of esophageal cancer stenosis.

Key words
esophageal cancer, expandable metalic stent, palliative treatment

Reprint requests
Akira Hayashibe Department of Surgery, Izumi Municipal Hospital
4-10-10 Futyu-cho, Izumi, 594 JAPAN

Accepted
September 14, 1994

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