Stoma is reported to be frequent in self-expanding metallic stent (SEMS) treated patients with obstructing left-sided colon cancer than in those with non-obstructing surgery. Retrospective study reported worse overall survival with SEMS and elective surgery than with emergency surgery in patients with left-sided malignant colon obstruction. In practice, intestinal wall edema following stent placement increases the difficulty of surgery, and this could be a major problem if the interval between stent insertion and surgery is short (1-2 weeks). The patients with obstructing left-sided colon cancer received SEMS treatment, and the recevied neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to elective surgery.
This study aimed to evaluate the safety and feasibility of SEMS followed by neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to elective surgery for obstructing left-sided colon cancer.