Self-expanding metal stents in the palliation of malignant biliary obstruction: Own experiences with 148 cases

Introduction: The diagnosis of papillary, pancreas, biliary duct and gallbladder tumors is often late and there is no chance for curative surgery. In many cases the condition of the patient render curative operation impossible. In these cases biliary metal stents are the best palliative method for resolving the jaundice of the patients. Patients and methods: In our unit between 1 January 2008 and 5 March 2012 we placed biliary metal stents in 148 patients (67 males and 81 females) suffering from inoperable malignant biliary obstruction. The median age of them was 70.67 year, in the range of 32–97 year. Of the st…