Study of Stent Insertion Combined With or Without Brachytherapy in Patients With Inoperable Malignant Biliary Obstruction

Malignant biliary obstruction is a common condition caused by various carcinomas.The clinical process is usually silent and insidious,only 10-20% patients can be surgically removed once obstructive jaundice occurred.The long-term survival rate after resection remain dismal.Relief of obstructive jaundice plays major role on prognosis in patients without surgical indications.For unresectable patients,stenting the biliary obstruction is considered to be the preferred palliation modality to relieve pruritus,cholangitis,pain and jaundice.Although a number of new techniques for treatment of malignant biliary obstruction have been developed,there have been no significant differences in survival or quality of life comparing surgery bypass versus plastic stent insertion,metal stent insertion versus plastic stents insertion,or covered stent versus uncovered stents insertion in such patients.Our previous unicentric clinical trial has demonstrated the safety and technical feasibility of a biliary intraluminal irradiation stent insertion in patients with biliary obstruction caused by adenocarcinomas, such a treatment seems have benefits in relieving jaundice and extending survival when compared to a conventional biliary stent.However,the small sample size,the population distribution of two groups will influence the final results in obtaining a powerful statistical conclusion in the overall survival and stent patency between two groups.Therefore,a multicentric study was designed to prospectively compared the responses to the treatment with this irradiation biliary stent versus the conventional biliary self-expandable stent in patients with inoperable malignant biliary obstruction.