Introduction: Most patients with malignant biliary obstruction are suited only for palliation by endoscopic drainage with plastic stents (PS) or self-expandable metal stents (SEMS).
Objective: To compare the clinical outcome and costs of biliary stenting with SEMS and PS in patients with malignant biliary strictures.
Patients and methods: A total of 114 patients with malignant jaundice who underwent 376 endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage (ERBD) were studied.
Results: ERBD with the placement of PS was performed in 80 patients, with one-step SEMS in 20 patients and two-step SEMS in 14 patients. Significantly fewer ERBD interventions were performed in patients with one-step SEMS than PS or the two-step SEMS technique (2.0±1.12 vs. 3.1±1.7 or 5.7±2.1, respectively, P<0.0001). The median hospitalization duration per procedure was similar for the three groups of patients. The patients' survival time was the longest in the two-step SEMS group in comparison with the one-step SEMS and PS groups (596±270 vs. 276±141 or 208±219 days, P<0.001). Overall median time to recurrent biliary obstruction was 89.3±159 days for PS and 120.6±101 days for SEMS (P=0.01). The total cost of hospitalization with ERBD was higher for two-step SEMS than for one-step SEMS or PS (1448±312, 1152±135 and 977±156&OV0556;, P<0.0001). However, the estimated annual cost of medical care for one-step SEMS was higher than that for the two-step SEMS or PS groups (4618, 4079, and 3995&OV0556;, respectively).
Conclusion: Biliary decompression by SEMS is associated with longer patency and reduced number of auxiliary procedures; however, repeated PS insertions still remain the most cost-effective strategy.