Owing to its less invasiveness, endoscopic
stent placement is a potential treatment option for
gastric cancer patients with
gastric outlet obstruction( GOO). We compared the clinical outcomes of
stent placement with
gastrojejunostomy( GJ) bypass in terms of postoperative oral intake status, duration of oral intake, and overall survival. Thirty-eight patients who had unresectable
gastric cancer with GOO were enrolled in this study. The
stent placement group was divided into 2 subgroups: group P comprising 9 patients who received
palliative treatment; and group A comprising 12 patients who received aggressive
chemotherapy.
Stent placement was performed for almost all the patients who had massive peritoneal
metastasis and poor performance status. Improvement in oral intake was achieved in 19( 90.5%) of 21 patients after
stent placement. Moreover, oral intake improved significantly in patients who underwent
chemotherapy after
stent placement. The median duration of oral intake and median overall survival was shorter in group P (1.8 and 2.8 months, respectively) and group A (3.2 and 4.8 months, respectively) than in group GJ( 11.8 and 12.7 months, respectively). In conclusion, endoscopic
stent placement is effective in improving the oral intake status; however, it may be insufficient to improve the duration of oral intake. Thus, further studies are needed to clarify the clinical benefit of
stent placement.