Newer Stents for Unresectable Malignant Distal Biliary Obstruction: Striving for Perfection!

Abstract

Endoscopic biliary stenting is one of the most commonly used palliative procedure in patients with unresectable malignant distal biliary obstruction. Biliary stenting can be performed with either plastic or metallic stents. Stent occlusion and migration are important limitations of currently available stents. Variety of newer stents with varying designs and stent materials like stents with antimigratory properties, antireflux stents, drug-eluting stents, radioactive stents, and bioabsorbable stents are being developed to overcome the limitations of currently available stents. In this article, we are discussing two articles on the newer stent designs (plastic and metal stents) for biliary drainage in patients with unresectable malignant distal biliary obstruction.

Keywords

• stent
• pancreatic cancer
• jaundice
• endoscope