To analyze the efficacy and safety of benign
esophageal disease used biodegradable (BD)
stent or
metal stent. The English literatures of benign
esophageal disease that were treated by biodegradable or
metal stents implantation were retrieved and summarized. In all 323 benign
esophageal disease, the most common etiologies were benign refractory
stricture, surgical anastomotic
stricture and
esophageal fistula/leak/perforation, but the main characteristics between the two groups were not significantly different. One hundred fifty-four cases were completely healed by using BD
stents or
self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) (47.7 %). Clinical success was achieved in 47.7 % of all patients and there was no significant difference between BD
stents (51 %) and SEMS (46.2 %) (P = 0.472), while
stent migration occurred more frequently with SEMS (33.9 %) than with BD
stent (19.6 %) (P ≤ 0.05), and tissue in- or overgrowth occurred more frequently with SEMS (22.2 %) than with BD
stents (8.8 %) (P ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, the time about degradation of BD
stents in esophageal was longer than removal of SEMS from the esophagus (P ≤ 0.05). Placement of BD
stents or SEMS provides effective and safe relief for benign
esophageal disease. Clinical success and mortality were not significantly different. BD
stents offers an advantage of fewer complications. Although
stent placement is a viable strategy in patients with benign
esophageal disease, the ideal treatment strategy and further randomized trials with large number of patients are needed.