ABSTRACT
Ureteral stents play an important role in the treatment of ureteral strictures. It supports the narrow urethra and ensures the smooth flow of urine, thus alleviating the impact of ureteral stricture on kidney function. Traditional ureteral stents are prone to complications such as stones, bacterial infections, inflammation, and restenosis when indwelling in the body. This paper reviews the performance requirements of ureteral stents, introduces ureteral stents of different structures, functions, materials, and preparation as well as processing techniques, and analyzes the key problems and future research directions of ureteral stents, which provides a reference basis for the research of ideal ureteral stents.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of improved covered metallic stents for proximal malignant esophageal strictures.Methods A total of 56 patients with proximal malignant esophageal strictures were treated with improved covered metallic stents whose diameter was 14 mm or 16 mm at Shanxi Province Tumor Hospital from Feburary 2013 to August 2014.Swallowing condition, physical and life quality were compared before and after surgery and analyzed.At the same time, side effects and complications were recorded during and after surgery.Results All 56 patients were treated successfully with improved covered metallic stents, no complications related with stents occurred after surgery.Swallowing conditions were improved after surgery, there were 45 patients with obvious improvement, 10 patients with better improvement and 1 patient's stent taken out due to stent intolerance.Remission rate of swallowing conditions was 98.2％ (55/56).Two weeks after surgery, Stooler of swallowing conditions obviously improved (t =7.05, P ＜ 0.05), physical conditions (ZPS) also improved (t =22.49, P ＜ 0.05), but there was no significant difference in life quality (Kamofsky scores) (t =1.07, P ＞ 0.05).During 90 days of follow-up there was no hemorrhage or perforation.Conclusion The application of improved covered metallic stents for proximal malignant esophageal strictures is safe and effective.
ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of covered metallic stents in the management of proximal esophageal strictures.Methods Retrievable covered self-expanding metallic stents were inserted individually in 43 patients with malignant strictures of the proximal esophagus.Main outcome measures included improvement of dysphagia,sealing of fistula and complications were evaluated.Results A total of 45 stents were placed in 43 patients,with a success rate of 95.6％ (43/45) at the first stent placement attempt.The dysphagia score improved significantly from 3.3 ± 0.6 to 1.8 ± 0.9 (P ＜ 0.001),with 18 having an excellent response and 25 having a good response.Improvement rate of dysphagia was 95.6％ (43/45).Fistula sealing was achieved in 7 of 9 patients (77.8％).Early complications included severe pain (n =5),mediastinal emphysema (n =1),moderate fever (n =9) and collapse of the proximal end of the stent (n =1),while late complications included migration (n =3) and tissue overgrowth (n =6).Conclusion Retrievable covered metallic stent placement is effective and safe for the palliation of obstructive dysphagia and sealing of fistulas in malignant proximal esophageal strictures.