Esophageal stent migration leads to intestinal obstruction

Oguzhan Karatepe, Ersin Acet, Merih Altiok, Muharrem Battal, Gokhan Adas, Servet Karahan

Department of General Surgery
Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.

                                                                                                      
Background: Self-expanding metallic stents are the devices of choice in the treatment of malign or benign strictures of esophagus. Stent migration is a well-known complication of this procedure. Aims: We report a case of intestinal obstruction caused by esophageal stent migration, in which surgical intervention was used. Methods: A 65-year-old woman, who had a medical history of gastric cancer operation and esophageal stent application admitted to our emergeny department with a 48-hour history of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. An emergeny laparotomy was performed and the migrated stent leading to intestinal obstruction was removed. Results: The patient recovered without incident and was discharged on postoperative day 3. Conclusion: This case illustrates that esophageal stent migration has to be considered as a potential life-threatening complication. (Karatepe O, Acet E, Altiok M, Battal M, Adas G, Karahan S. Esophageal stent migration leads to intestinal obstruction. North Am J Med Sci 2009; 1: 63-65).

Key words: Esophageal stricture; self-expanding stent; stent complications; stent migration; intestinal obstruction;

Correspondence to: Dr. Oguzhan Karatepe, Department of General Surgery, Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul,34715, Turkey. Tel: 212 4142000, Fax: 212 5331781. Email: drkaratepe@yahoo.com