Comparison of early and late surgery following colonic stenting for obstructive colorectal cancer

PURPOSE: Colonic stenting as a bridge to surgery is an alternative to emergency surgery in patients with acute malignant colonic obstruction. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of early and late surgery after colonic stenting for obstructive colorectal cancer.METHODS: From March 2004 to August 2014, the medical records of obstructive colorectal cancer patients who underwent surgery after colonic stent insertion were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into early surgery (≤7 days after stenting) and late surgery (>7 days after stenting) groups.RESULTS: Eighty-four patients underwent colonic stenting for obstructive colorectal cancer. Forty-six patients were ultimately enrolled: 18 in the early and 28 in the late surgery groups. The mean ages were 63.7 and 71.8 years, respectively (P=0.01). Blood loss was lower in the early surgery group (median [interquartile range], 50 [50–50] mL vs. 50 [50–100] mL; P=0.020). The time to first flatus was longer in the early surgery group (3.0 [3.0–5.0] days vs. 2.0 [2.0–3.0] days; P=0.010). The time to first soft food intake was similar. Postoperative complications did not differ (16.7% vs. 14.3%, respectively; P=0.525) and no patients died.CONCLUSION: Surgical outcomes were similar between early and late surgery. However, the former featured less blood loss, indicating less surgical difficulty. These results show that early surgery can be performed safely in obstructive colorectal cancer patients after colonic stenting if the patient's clinical condition is amenable to early surgery.

Palliative Management of Gastric Cancer with Outlet Obstruction: Stent versus Bypass

Gastric cancer with gastric outlet obstruction has a high incidence of direct invasion into neighboring organs, with a low resection rate and a poor prognosis. Traditionally, open gastrojejunostomy has been the standard palliative treatment in these patients. Recently, endoscopic self-expanding metal stents have been used increasingly for the palliative treatment of malignant gastric outlet obstruction, but the choice of modality to treat the obstruction caused by gastric cancer is still controversial. Many studies have shown that endoscopic stenting is less invasive and offers not only a shorter time to oral intake and length of hospital stay, but also less frequent complications compared to open gastrojejunostomy. However, recurrent obstruction by tumor overgrowth and ingrowth occur more frequently and re-intervention for recurrent obstructive symptoms are more frequently performed after stent placement than after gastrojejunostomy. Thus, stent placement may be associated with more favorable results in patients with a relatively short life expectancy, while gastrojejunostomy is preferable in patients with a more prolonged prognosis. Also, open surgery affords a greater chance for curative surgery. However, most underlying diseases analyzed in previous studies were pancreaticobiliary malignancies, and there have been few prospective studies specific for patients with gastric cancer. Additional randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes are expected to decide the treatment modality for unresectable gastric cancer with gastric outlet obstruction.