Abstract
A new balloon-expandable metal stent (Strecker stent) was implanted in 11 patients with malignant biliary stricture, in whom 7 patients had pancreatic cancer, 3 patients bile duct cancer and 1 patient hepatic hilar invasion of colon cancer. Implantation was successfully performed in 10 patients by mean of endoscopy and in a patient through percutaneous transhepatic route. In 5 patients external irradiation therapy was perf omed. Three patients died of malignancy progressed without stent obstruction, while 4 patients are still alive without stent obstruction. In 3 patients, stent obstruction caused by tumor ingrowth through the mesh of the stent occurred. The longest survived patient (without stent obstruction) is a 75-year-old female with pancreatic cancer, whose implanted stent has not been obstructed over 400 days without any procedures for cleaning inside of the stent.
