Esophageal stents in benign and malignant diseases

Esophageal stenting was originally offered to patients with advanced esophageal malignancy, for whom it was considered as a costly modality of palliation. Advances in stent design and technology have resulted in more varieties of stents like the fully covered and removable metallic stents as well as self expanding plastic stents. As a result, the use of esophageal stents has been expanded to various benign conditions as well as to neoadjuvant settings in malignancy. This article tries to outline the current status of stenting in a variety of benign and malignant conditions of the esophagus.