Esophageal covered stent implantation for the treatment of spontaneous esophageal rupture: observation of its curative effect

Objective: To summarize the clinical experience of esophageal stent implantation in the treatment of spontaneous esophageal rupture. Methods: A total of 24 patients with spontaneous esophageal rupture were enrolled in this study. Under local mucosal anaesthesia and guided by fluoroscopy, the implantation of transnasal thoracic drainage tube, temporary esophageal covered stent and jejunal nutrition tube was carried out in all patients. Postoperative purulent cavity irrigation, nutritional support, antiinflammatory therapy and symptomatic treatment were adopted. The transnasal thoracic drainage tube, jejunal nutrition tube and esophageal covered stent were retrieved when the pus cavity healed. Results: A total of 24 esophageal covered stents were successfully implanted in 24 patients with spontaneous esophageal rupture. The esophageal stent was successfully removed in 22 patients in an average time of 94.3 days, and no complications such as massive hemorrhage or esophageal rupture occurred during the process of removing the stents. An 82 year old patient died of cardiac insufficiency 2 months after operation. Another patient died of massive hematemes is and hematochezia 40 days after operation. Conclusion: For the treatment of spontaneous esophageal rupture, interventional therapy is technically simple and less traumatic with reliable effect. Therefore, this new interventional technique is worthy of promotion. (authors)