• Stéphane Lecleire, Frédéric Di Fiore, Michel Antonietti, Emmanuel Ben Soussan, Marie-France Hellot, Sébastien Grigioni, Pierre Déchelotte, Eric Lerebours, Pierre Michel, and Philippe Ducrotté.
• Department of Hepato-Gastroenterology and Nutrition, ADEN-EA3234/IFRMP23 Research Group, Rouen University Hospital Charles-Nicolle, France.
• Gastrointest. Endosc. 2006 Oct 1;64(4):479-84.

BackgroundSelf-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) are a first-line therapeutic procedure in the palliative treatment of dysphagia in patients with esophageal cancer. However, the impact of SEMS insertion on patient nutritional status has never been assessed.ObjectiveTo evaluate the nutritional status of patients after insertion of a SEMS and the impact of a preexisting undernutrition status on survival.DesignRetrospective observational study.PatientsA total of 120 patients treated in a single center by insertion of a SEMS for relief of dysphagia in the palliative treatment of esophageal cancer were retrospectively included.Main Outcome MeasurementsEfficacy of SEMS was assessed by the Ogilvie's dysphagia score. Patient nutritional and clinical statuses were evaluated at SEMS insertion, and patients were regularly followed until death. Independent predictive factors of early 30-day mortality were researched.ResultsDysphagia scores decreased after SEMS insertion in 89.1% of patients, with median scores decreasing from 3.0 to 1.0 (P < .05). There was a significant decrease in body mass index (BMI) (P < .04), serum albumin level (P < .01), and World Health Organization (WHO) performance index (P < .02) at a 1-month evaluation. Serum albumin level, BMI <18 kg/m(2), and WHO performance index >2 at SEMS insertion were independent predictive factors of 30-day mortality.ConclusionsThis study suggested that palliative stent placement in esophageal cancer was effective to relieve dysphagia but was not followed by an improvement of nutritional parameters. Moreover, it underlined the key role played by undernutrition on survival.

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