In gastric cancer patients with gastric outlet obstruction, there are several complications such as malnutrition and vomiting. Palliative enteral stenting is a less invasive procedure as compared with a gastrojejunostomy. The aim of this study was to determine whether there was a significant difference between patients that undergone palliative enteral stenting and patients that had received a bypass gastrojejunostomy.

One hundred patients underwent palliative entering stenting and 31 patients were subjected to a surgical bypass gastrojejunostomy. We reviewed the medical records of the patients with gastric outlet obstruction secondary to far advanced gastric cancer that were diagnosed using a gastrofibroscope, UGI and abdominal CT, and were admitted to our institution between January 2000 and August 2006. The outcome of stent placement for gastric outlet obstruction was compared with palliative gastrojejunostomy during the same period. We excluded patients with recurrent gastric cancer and double cancer from this study.

There were significant differences between the group of patients that underwent stenting and the group of patients that received a gastrojejunostomy regarding the age of patients (67±12 vs. 57±9, P<0.001) but not between the sex of the patients (M : F, 2 : 1 vs. 2 : 1, P=0.637). The most common complication of stenting was tumor ingrowth (16/100, 16%) and the second most common complication was stent migration (14/100). Failure of the procedure occurred in only three patients. Twenty-three patients underwent re-stenting and one patient required open conversion with a gastrojejunostomy. The median time to the first meal was 4±2 days in the stent group of patients and 6±2 days in the gastrojejunostomy group of patients (P=0.001). The median postoperative hospital stays were 9 days in the stent group of patients and 15 days in the gastrojejunostomy group of patients (P=0.003). The mean survival periods were 11 months in the stent group of patients and 10 months in the gastrojejunostomy group of patients (P=0.937).

There were no significant differences in the mean survival rates. An earlier first meal and a shorter hospitalization stay were found in the stenting group of patients compared to the bypass gastrojejunostomy group of patients. However, re-stenting was a concern due to tumor ingrowth and stent migration.