Introduction:

Esophageal and cardia cancer is a serious disease, in which more than three quarters of the treated patients are in advanced stage. In Cuba there is experience with original esophageal prostheses or others domestically built.

Objective:

To evaluate the results of the experience of the Comandante Manuel Fajardo and Miguel Enriquez university hospitals with transtumoral prostheses in unresectable esophageal cancer.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive, retrospective, case-series type study was carried out with a sample of 197 patients treated with prosthesis for advanced esophageal cancer in the university hospitals Comandante Manuel Fajardo and Miguel Enríquez in the period 1995-2020.

Results:

The male sex predominated, while the most affected ages were the sixth and seventh decades. The most frequent tumor location was the lower third of the esophagus and cardia, while squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent histological type. Rigid prostheses of endotracheal tubes were used in 71 %; Heering prostheses, in 20.8 %; and self-expanding prostheses, in 8.2 %. The most commonly used prostheses at Manuel Fajardo and Miguel Enriquez hospitals were the rigid prosthesis of handmade construction and the Heering prosthesis, respectively. The least used was the self-expanding prosthesis. There was a 10.1 % of complications, with no surgical mortality.

Conclusions:

Although self-expanding prostheses are easy to place by endoscopy, it is an expensive method, even being ideal. The industrial or handmade rigid plastic prosthesis can also offer quality of life without dysphagia, avoiding the patient's death with an abdominal ostomy.

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