Endoscopic duodenal stenting is efficient, but has higher rate of reoperations than gastrojejunostomy in palliative treatment for gastric outlet obstruction

BACKGROUND: Surgical gastrojejunostomy has traditionally been the palliative treatment of choice for patients with advanced malignancies and gastric outlet obstruction syndrome. Recently, palliative endoscopic duodenal stenting has increased in popularity. We report outcomes after gastrojejunostomy and duodenal stenting when used for palliative indications. METHODS: Consecutive patients undergoing palliative gastrojejunostomy or palliative endoscopic duodenal stenting in a Finnish tertiary referral center between January 2015 and December 2020 were included. The postoperative outcomes of these two palliative interventions were compared. The main outcome measures were mortality and morbidity, rate of reoperations, postoperative oral intake ability, and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: A total of 88 patients, 46 (52%) patients underwent palliative gastrojejunostomy and 42 (48%) duodenal stenting. All patients had malignant disease, most typically hepatopancreatic cancer. Nineteen (44%) patients in duodenal stenting group and 4 (8.7%) patients in gastrojejunostomy group required subsequent interventions due to persisting or progressing symptoms (p < 0.001). Median delay until first oral intake was 2 days (1–24) after gastrojejunostomy and 0 days (0–3) after stenting (p < 0.001). Postoperative morbidity was 30% after gastrojejunostomy and 45% after stenting (p < 0.001). Median length of hospital stay was 7 days (1–27) after surgery and 5 days (0–20) after endoscopy (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients undergoing endoscopic duodenal stenting are more able to initiate rapid oral intake and have shorter hospital stay. On the other hand, there are significantly more reoperations in stenting group. If the patient’s life expectancy is short, we recommend stenting, but for patients whose life expectancy is longer, gastrojejunostomy could be a better procedure, for the reasons mentioned above.