ABSTRACT
Esophageal cancer is a malignant tumor of the digestive tract in esophageal epithelial tissue, which is highly difficult to cure globally and has a high mortality ratio (10%–15% survival ratio) within 5 years. Stent implantation is generally accepted as a crucial method for relieving late esophageal obstruction in nonsurgical palliative care. However, with continuous improvement in patients’ desire for treatment effect and quality of life, the existing esophageal stent cannot meet the requirements. The core problems focus on stent internal stenosis and severe pain caused by the stent. The main strategies to solve these problems are the selection of stent materials, the design of stent structure, and the development of stent surface modification. In this chapter, we focus on introducing the research progress of esophageal stent considering the above aspects and anticipate attracting more subjects to focus on this field for promoting the development of this discipline.
