Background and aims: The management of refractory benign esophageal strictures (RBESs) is challenging.
Stent placement has been proposed as a possible rescue strategy. We performed a systematic
review and meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of this strategy in the long-term
resolution of dysphagia.
Methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar were searched (up to January 2015). Studies recruiting
adults with RBES treated with stent placement were eligible. The success, adverse
event, and migration rates were pooled by means of a random-effect model to obtain
odds with a 95 % confidence interval (CI).
Results: Eighteen studies (444 patients) were eligible for inclusion. The pooled clinical success
rate was 40.5 % (95 %CI 31.5 % – 49.5 %), yielding odds of 0.68 (95 %CI 0.46 – 0.98)
with high heterogeneity (I2 = 65.0 %). The meta-regression analysis showed stricture etiology as the only influencing
factor. Treatment with self-expanding plastic (SEPSs) and metal stents (SEMSs) did
not result in significantly higher success rates than treatment with biodegradable
stents (BDSs) (46.2 % vs. 40.1 % vs. 32.9 %, respectively). The migration rate was
28.6 % (95 %CI 21.9 % – 37.1 %), yielding odds of 0.40 (95 %CI 0.28 – 0.59), with
migration rates for SEPSs and SEMSs reported as being not significantly higher than
BDSs (33.3 % vs. 31.5 % vs. 15.3 %, respectively). The adverse event rate was 20.6 %
(95 %CI 15.3 % – 28.1 %), yielding odds of 0.26 (95 %CI 0.18 – 0.39) with no significant
difference between stent types (19.4 % vs. 21.9 % vs. 21.9 %, respectively).
Conclusions: Stent placement in patients with RBES is effective in about 40 % of cases. Further
studies should investigate whether the clinical success rate varies according to the
stricture etiology.
(PROSPERO registration number: CRD42015019017.)