Biodegradable stents: truly biodegradable with good tissue harmony.

A 48-year-old man presented to our hospital with corrosive (sulfuric acid)-induced esophageal and pyloric strictures and a barium study showing narrowing of a long segment in the distal esophagus (●" Fig.1a), reduced capacity of stomach, and antropyloric narrowing (●" Fig.1b). Balloon dilation (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) of esophageal and pyloric strictures was done over a period of 6 months. The pyloric stricture opened up, however, the esophageal stricture was refractory and the patient continued to have dysphagia. Therefore, an 80mm× 23mm SX-ELLA esophageal biodegradable stent (ELLA-CS, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic) was placed across the narrowed segment of the esophagus. Endoscopy revealed complete degradation at 12 weeks, and after 4 months the patient had symptomatic recurrence requiring dilation (●" Fig.2). After 6 months of the placement of the biodegradable stent he underwent transhiatal esophagectomy with colonic transposition. The patient remained asymptomatic at follow-up after 6 months. Macro/microscopic examinations revealed no evidence of stent material. The resected esophagus had a thickened wall Fig.1 a Barium swallow in a 48-year-old man with history of corrosive (sulfuric acid)induced esophageal and pyloric strictures showing long segment narrowing of the thoracic esophagus with mucosal irregularity. b Barium meal examination showing reduced capacity of stomach with narrowing in the antropyloric region.