A randomized trial of endoscopic drainage methods for inoperable malignant strictures of the common bile duct

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. The authors concluded that metal stents and plastic stents exchanged every 3 months were valuable alternatives for increasing complication-free survival in patients with malignant structures of the common bile duct. In addition, the use of a metal stent in patients surviving less than 3 months appears unnecessarily costly. For the patients surviving 6 months or less, cost differences were observed. For patients surviving more than 6 months, the metal stents appear more advantageous in terms of costs and complication free survival.