170 Multicenter Trial Evaluating the Use of Covered Self-Expanding Metal Stents in Benign Biliary Strictures: Time to Revisit Our Therapeutic Options?

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

“…In a meta-analysis including 780 patients, fully covered SEMS had patency 61 days longer than the non-covered SEMS, and efficacy was limited by the formation of sludge inside the stent or by tumoral overgrowth at the ends [13]. The efficacy of fully covered SEMS in treating post-anastomotic biliary strictures after liver transplantation was not superior to that of plastic stents, with a 39 % failure rate [14]. It should be pointed out that the absence of complete covering forced the authors to keep these SEMS in place for only 14 weeks, which may not be long enough to calibrate the stricture.…”