Palliation of esophageal cancer with a self-expanding, silicone-covered stent and a technique for stent retrieval.

Most patients with carcinoma of the esophagus present with progressive, unrelenting dysphagia, malnutrition, and weight loss. Palliation is the primary treatment, since these patients are not candidates for curative surgical resection. Surgery, radiotherapy, and endoscopic modalities have been used for palliation. Recently, self-expanding, metallic stents have been used with considerable success. This type of stent can dislodge into the stomach during or after deployment. We report an approach to retrieve an expandable, silicone-coated stent using a double-channel endoscope, an esophageal dilating balloon, and a polypectomy snare.