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Original Articles: General Thoracic

Invited Commentary

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, 1510 San Pablo St, Suite 514, Los Angeles, CA 90033

(Email: sdemeester@surgery.usc.edu).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

The management of benign esophageal strictures begins with dilation, and depending on the cause of the stricture, often repeated dilations are necessary. When self-expanding metallic stents became available they were used for benign and malignant strictures until it became evident that the inflammation often induced by these stents and the difficulty or inability to remove them made them unsuitable for use in benign disease. The development of the Polyflex self-expanding, removable stent (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA) has once again made stenting an option for patients with benign strictures. The purpose of the study by Martin and colleagues [1] was to compare the efficacy and cost associated with repeat . . . [Full Text of this Article]