Esophageal stent fixation with endoscopic suturing device improves clinical outcomes and reduces complications in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer prior to neoadjuvant therapy: a large multicenter experience

Endoscopic placement of fully covered self-expanding metal stents (FCSEMS) to treat malignant dysphagia in patients with esophageal cancer significantly improves dysphagia; however, these stents have a high migration rate. To determine whether FCSEMS fixation using an endoscopic suturing device treated malignant dysphagia and prevented stent migration in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer receiving neoadjuvant therapy when compared to patients with FCSEMS placement alone. A review of patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer who underwent FCSEMS placement at 3 centers was performed. Patients were divided into two groups: Group A (n = 26) was composed of patients who underwent FCSEMS placement with suture placement, and Group B (n = 67) was composed of patients with FCSEMS placement alone. There were no significant differences between Groups A and B in demographics, and tumor characteristics. The technical success rate for stent placement was 100 %. There was no difference between Groups A and B in the median stent diameter and stent lengths. Mean dysphagia score obtained at 1 week after stent placement had improved significantly from baseline (2.4 and 1, respectively, p