Metal versus Plastic Stent for Transmural Drainage of Pancreatic Fluid Collections

The conventional management of pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs) involves surgery or percutaneous drainage. While surgery is associated with significant complications and mortality, percutaneous drainage is associated with prolonged hospitalization and oftentimes the need for other adjunctive treatment measures. Therefore, the use of endoscopy to drain PFCs is becoming increasingly popular. Randomized trials have demonstrated that endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage is superior to conventional endoscopy in terms of technical success and potentially decreases the rates of procedural complications. While transmural drainage is usually undertaken by deployment of plastic endoprosthesis, of late, fully covered self-expandable metal stents are being placed with increasing frequency. However, the benefits of this approach are unclear and require further validation in prospective trials.