POLYFLEX ESOPHAGEAL STENTS: A NOVEL APPROACH FOR REFRACTORY BENIGN ESOPHAGEAL STRICTURES

RL Ganc, S Zanati, P Kortan, G Haber, G Kandel, N Marcon

St Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

Although most benign esophageal strictures are successfully managed by periodic Savary dilatation, the condition remains problematic in others. The authors report on the use of a new plastic stent to achieve patency in 2 such patients.
METHODS: The new Polyflex (Rusch®) retrievable esophageal stent was used to treat two patients with benign esophageal stricture who had undergone periodic dilatations for a long period of time without success. The goal was to keep the stents in place for 6 months and evaluate improvement in symptoms, reactive tissue growth around the stents and long term results.
RESULTS: Both patients remained asymptomatic while the stents were in place, gaining significant weight. There was no significant reactive tissue overgrowth. One of the patients was asymptomatic for two months, when the stent migrated to the stomach and dysphagia recurred. The other patient had the stent for the full six months. After the removal of the stents, both patients had recurrence of their strictures, but less frequent dilatations were necessary.
CONCLUSION: The new retrievable plastic esophageal stent (Polyflex-Rusch®) seems quite effective in symptom relief and in avoiding tissue overgrowth while in situ. Recurrence of the stricture is likely to occur following removal or displacement of the stent. Larger studies are required to determine the long term efficacy of these stents.