Self-expanding metal stents for palliative treatment of malignant biliary and duodenal stenoses.

Patients with malignant biliary stenosis due to pancreatic head cancer often have the associated problem of duodenal obstruction. We report here the case of a 78-year-old woman with this clinical situation, who was treated with self-expanding Gianturco metal stents placed in the distal common bile duct and, nine months later, placed in the descending duodenum. The patient's frequent vomiting resolved, and she was able to tolerate peroral solid food; jaundice also decreased (bilirubin pre-stenting: 7.8; post-stenting: 1.2). Self-expanding metal stents therefore appear to be effective for the palliative treatment of malignant duodenal stenosis as well as biliary stenosis.