Results of Palliative Stenting in Malignant Superior Vena Cava Syndrome Analyzing Self-Expanding Stainless Steel and Nitinol Venous Bare Metal Stents

Abstract

Purpose:

The purpose was to analyze the technical, clinical, and survival outcomes of our patients with malignant superior cava vein syndrome (SVCS) treated with endovascular approach and analyze the efficacy of different stent types used.

Material and Methods:

It is an observational, retrospective, single-center study. From 2006 to 2023, 42 patients (32 male, 10 female, mean age 62 years, age range, 41-87 years) underwent percutaneous stent placement for malignant SVCS. One stainless steel stent (Wallstent) and 2 venous nitinol stent type (Sinus-XL, Venovo) were used. Follow-up mean was 276 days.

Results:

A total of 53 stents were deployed. Clinical success was 97.6% in less 24 hours. Technical success was achieved in 97.6%. No complications were found except 1 patient died during the procedure due to stent migration and atrial dissociation (2.3%). Overall intraprocedural stent migration rate was 11.9% (18.8% stainless steel stent, 9.6% nitinol stent, p>0.05). Overall survival rates were 87.8%, 41.99%, and 34.12%, and overall primary patency rates were 100%, 93.3%, 91.6% at 1, 6, and 12 months, respectively.

Conclusions:

Endovascular treatment is a safe and effective therapeutic option for SVCS with high technical and clinical success rates and low complication and recurrence rates.

Clinical impact

The malignant superior cava vein syndrome is a rare clinical entity treated classically with radiation and chemotherapy with a slower response, or surgical bypass, which is an aggressive surgical technique. Endovascular treatment offers a low-invasive technique with quick clinical resolution and good permeability results. However, further studies are lacking to deal with procedure technical characteristics, stent type used, technical complications, and medium- and long-term patency studies. This study aims to evaluate all these items, analysing self-expanding stainless steel and nitinol venous bare metal stents, and add value to endovascular treatment, confirming the good results of this technique.