BACKGROUND: The industry standard since 1990 for self-expanding biliary metallic stents has been the Wallstent. In 1998 the Spiral Z-stent was released. This randomized trial compared the Z-stent with the Wallstent in the treatment of @entity5 . METHODS: @entity1 with unresectable @entity5 distal to the bile duct bifurcation were randomized to receive a 10-mm diameter Wallstent or a 10-mm diameter Z-stent. RESULTS: A total of 145 @entity1 were randomized; 13 were excluded. Sixty-four @entity1 who received a Z-stent and 68 who had a Wallstent are included in the analysis. @entity5 responsible for @entity1448 were @entity788 (108), @entity201 (15), @entity5 (6), and @entity5 (3). Metallic stents were successfully placed in all @entity1 . Seven technical problems were encountered during placement of the Z-stent and 5 with the Wallstent. There were 21 occlusions requiring reintervention (8 Z-stent, 13 Wallstent; p = 0.30). Median time to reintervention was the following: Z-stent, 162 days; Wallstent, 150 days (p = 0.22). A total of 104 @entity1 died of progressive disease or other cause; 7 @entity1 remain alive with patent stents. The overall calculated median patency rates were: Z-stent, 152 days; Wallstent, 154 days (p = 0.90). CONCLUSIONS: The Spiral Z-stent is comparable with the Wallstent in terms of placement, occlusion rates, and overall patency. Occasional early occlusion of both stents suggests @entity5 characteristics instead of the size of the mesh openings in the stents as important factors.

Multicenter randomized trial of the spiral Z-stent compared with the Wallstent for XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients'] @entity788 :: ('MESH:D010190', 'Disease') :: ['pancreatic cancer'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['tumor', 'Tumors', 'papillary cancer', 'metastatic cancer', 'malignant biliary obstruction'] @entity1448 :: ('MESH:D002779', 'Disease') :: ['bile duct obstruction'] @entity201 :: ('MESH:D018281', 'Disease') :: ['cholangiocarcinoma']
@entity5 :: (MESH:D009369,Disease) :: ['malignant biliary obstruction']
