What are the types of digestive tract stents

Gastrointestinal stents mainly include esophageal stents, biliary stents, pancreatic stents, and intestinal stents. Esophageal stents are mainly used for esophageal stenosis caused by esophageal cancer, biliary stents are mainly used for biliary obstruction caused by cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic stents are mainly used for pancreatic decompression during acute pancreatitis, and intestinal stents are mainly used for intestinal stenosis caused by colon cancer. Esophageal stents can be divided into bare stents, semi covered stents, and fully covered stents. If bare stents are placed in the esophagus, they cannot be removed because the surrounding cancer tissue will grow along the esophageal stent.

Half covered stents are basically fixed, while fully covered stents can prevent tumor tissue growth by covering themselves with a layer of plastic film and can be recycled. Biliary stent mainly includes metal stent and plastic stent, which can be placed in the bile duct to alleviate the jaundice symptoms caused by bile duct cancer. Pancreatic stent is placed inside the pancreatic duct after ERCP stone removal surgery to prevent excessive pressure inside the duct and exacerbate pancreatitis. Intestinal stents can be placed during intestinal obstruction to alleviate the symptoms of fecal obstruction.