Piccinni Giuseppe, Angrisano Anna, Testini Mario, Bonomo G Martino
Sezione di Chirurgia Generale, Vascolare ed Oncologia Clinica, Dipartimento per le Applicazioni in Chirurgia delle Tecnologie Innovative Universita di Bari, Policlinico, Piazza G. Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.
World J Gastroenterol. 2004 Mar 1;10(5):758-64. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v10.i5.758.
Acute colonic obstruction due to malignancies is an emergency that requires surgical treatment. Elderly patients or inoperable tumors require intestinal decompression that is a simple colostomy in almost all cases. This "manoeuvre" leads the patient to a percentage of mortality/morbidity and to a bad quality of life due to acceptance of stoma. The introduction of enteral metal stent inserted endoscopically has, in our opinion, provided a new way to obtaining the definitive palliation of inoperable colo-rectal cancer with a simple method. We reported our case-series and we analyzed the current literature and costs of treatments.