Endoscopic management of malignant biliary obstruction. Is stent size of 10 French gauge better than 7 French gauge?

This study reviews 139 endoscopic biliary drainage procedures in 89 patients with malignant biliary obstruction. We compared the performance of straight 7 FG (31 patients; 36 procedures) and 10 FG (45 patients; 84 procedures) stents with regard to early complication rate and late clogging. The stent patency of all single 7 FG and all single 10 FG stents were 67 days and 144 days (p = 0.11), respectively. A complication was seen in 13.9% of the procedures with a 7 FG stent and in 16.7% of the procedures with a 10 FG stent inserted. When 2 7 FG stents (13 patients; 19 procedures) were used, the figures were 110 days and 21.1%, respectively. High stenosis was more frequent in this group. We found no significant differences in the performance of a single 7 FG and a single 10 FG stent, but there was a trend towards a longer patency and a higher complication rate of a single 10 FG stent compared with a single 7 FG stent.