Background: Stenting of malignant colorectal strictures has been used in the management of colorectal obstruction in order to convert acute into elective surgery ("bridge to surgery") as well as to avoid surgery in disseminated disease.
Material and method: There are increasing numbers of international publications available. We have identified English-language reports from Pubmed. In addition we present our results with our first fifteen patients.
Results: The results reported in the international literature are encouraging and similar. Technical success rates were achieved in about 90%, stent migration and re-obstruction in about 10%. The results from our hospital were consistent with those in the international literature.
Conclusion: Stenting of malignant colorectal strictures is an effective and safe definitive procedure in the palliation of malignant colorectal obstruction. Acute colorectal surgery may be converted into elective.