2 CASES OF FRACTURED ESOPHAGEAL NITINOL STENTS

We report here on two cases of fractured nitinol stents in the esophag us. In case 1, the correctly inserted stent broke spontaneously shortl y after insertion. In a second case, a nitinol stent broke after laser application due to tumor ingrowth with massive bleeding, In both case s, a second stent was implanted in order to reestablish food passage. The fracture of the stent in case 1 seemed to be caused by defective m aterial, whilst in case 2 the stent broke because of thermal overstrai n during laser application, The use of electrocoagulation or laser in the stent area should therefore be avoided; argon plasma coagulation m ay offer an effective alternative in treating tumor ingrowth, As there was a risk from piercing broken filaments with the second stent, cove ring a fracture using stents with tight walls or plastic tubes seems t o be a more effective approach than the inserting an uncovered stent t ype.