Preventing Stricture Formation by Covered Esophageal Stent Placement After Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Early Esophageal Cancer

Objective We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fully covered esophageal stent placement for preventing esophageal strictures after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). Methods Twenty-two patients with a mucosal defects that exceeded 75 % of the circumference of the esophagus after ESD treatment for superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinomas were grouped according to the type of mucosal defect and randomized to undergo fully covered esophageal stent placement post-ESD (group A, n = 11) or no stent placement (group B, n = 11). In group A, the esophageal stents were removed 8 weeks post-ESD. Endoscopy was performed when patients reported dysphagia symptoms and at 12 weeks post-ESD in patients without symptoms. Savary–Gilliard dilators were used for bougie dilation in patients experiencing esophageal stricture in both groups, and we compared the rates of post-ESD strictures and the need for bougie dilation procedures. Results The proportion of patients who developed a stricture was significantly lower in group A (18.2 %, n = 2) than in group B (72.7 %, n = 8) ( P