Placement of a self-expandable metallic stent as a bridge to surgery for large bowel obstruction induced by effective neoadjuvant therapy: report of three cases

BACKGROUND: Self-expandable metallic stent placement is a widely performed palliative procedure or bridge to surgery for obstructive colorectal cancer. However, the feasibility of this procedure for large bowel obstruction induced by effective neoadjuvant therapy is unclear. CASE PRESENTATION: We herein report three such cases involving a 61-year-old man who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for lower rectal cancer, a 56-year-old woman who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy for lower rectal cancer, and a 63-year-old woman who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy for lower rectal cancer. All were emergently hospitalized with large bowel obstruction that developed while undergoing neoadjuvant therapy. Colonoscopy revealed smooth strictures caused by effective neoadjuvant therapy. Self-expandable metallic stents were placed across the obstruction as a bridge to surgery, and laparoscopic low anterior resection was uneventfully performed in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully treated three patients with large bowel obstruction induced by a good response to neoadjuvant therapy using self-expandable metallic stents as a bridge to surgery. Further studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to assess the feasibility of this strategy.