[Comparative assessment of clinical efficacy of percutaneous transhepatic metal versus plastic biliary stent implantation for malignant biliary obstruction: a multi-centered investigation].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical efficacy of metal versus plastic biliary stent implantation for treatment of malignant biliary obstruction. METHODS: Percutaneous transhepatic implantations of self-expandable metal stent (MS, n=61) or 10F plastic stent (PS, n=34) were performed in 95 patients with malignant biliary obstruction selected from 3 hospitals of Guangdong Province. All patients were followed up until death or at least one year after the procedure. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare the patients' survival and stent patency rates. RESULTS: The 30-day mortality rate was lower in MS group (6/61, 9.8%) than in PS group (9/34, 26.5%, P<0.05). The 30-day reobstruction rate and incidence of complications were 15.0%, 16.4% in MS group and 32.4%, 29.4% in PS group, respectively (P<0.01). The median patency period of the stents and median survival period of the patients were 230 d, 224 d in MS group and 90 d, 94 d in PS group, respectively (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Metal stent implantation is superior to plastic stent for treatment of malignant biliary obstruction.