Large bowel malignant obstruction treated with SEMS placement as a bridge to surgery procedure

: We treated 5 cases of preoperative decompression using the self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) against obstructive left side colon cancer since October 2013. The obstruction site was the descending colon in one patient, sigmoid colon in 2, rectal-sigmoid colon in 1, and rectum in 1. Colonic stent placements were successful in all cases. Oral intake started an average of 3.7 days after SEMS placement. All patients underwent radical surgery an average of 17.2 days after SEMS placement. Two patients waited for surgery while out of the hospital. All patients underwent colonoscopy. One patient had advanced colon cancer. Our findings show that SEMS placement can treat obstructive left-sided colon cancer.