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Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England logoLink to Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England
. 1996 Sep;78(5):457–462.

Palliation of malignant dysphagia: an alternative to surgery.

R Mason 1
PMCID: PMC2502938  PMID: 8881732

Abstract

This paper presents the results of palliative treatment of 474 patients with malignant dysphagia. Laser produces good relief of symptoms but requires frequent repetition. Self-expanding metal stents provide one-off relief of dysphagia but do have complications. A randomised trial of laser versus covered and uncovered metal stents has demonstrated improved relief of dysphagia of stents over laser, but highlighted the problems at the cardia when stents are used. Chemotherapy in patients with advanced adenocarcinoma using epirubicin, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil produces a response in two-thirds of cases, with relief of dysphagia and possible increase in survival. A treatment plan for palliation of patients with malignant dysphagia is presented.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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