A Fully Covered Irradiation Stent for the Palliation of Malignant Dysphagia

Dysphagia is the major symptom of patients with malignant esophageal stricture caused predominantly by advanced esophageal cancer. Stent placement is the most commonly used strategies for relieving the dysphagia and a novel irradiation stent loaded with 125I seeds has recently been developed. A multicentre randomized clinical trial demonstrated this irradiation stent can relieve the dysphagia rapidly and prolong the survival of patients with advanced esophageal cancer, but the total stent stenosis rate cannot be ruduced. A novel fully covered segmented retrievable irradiation stent was developed in our institute. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of this newly developed irradiation stent in patients with unresectable malignant dysphagia.