Abstract

Generally, self expandable metallic stents (SEMSs) are widely used for the treatment of malignant gastrointestinal stenosis due to their effectiveness and low complication rate. On the contraty, balloon dilatation or Bougie dilatation is commonly used for treating benign gastrointestinal stenosis as non-invasive methods. However, their such complications such as recurrence, hemorrhage and perforation are problematic when these dilation techniques are used. Temporary placement of a SEMS in a benign gastric outlet obstruction is expected to be a promising therapeutic modality despite of several major complications such as migration. Rarely, stent removal can, on rare occasions, be difficult or cause bleeding or perforation when the stent is embeded in the mucosa due to mucosal hyperplasia at the tips of the stent. We report here on a case of a stent, partially embeded in the mucosa after temporary stenting for treating a benign pyloric stenosis, which was successfully removed using argon plasma coagulation. (Korean J Gastrointest Endosc 2010;40:31-35)

• Keywords: Benign pyloric stenosis, Gastric outlet obstruction, Temporary stenting, Argon plasma coagulation, Stent removal