Patient/family-oriented evaluations of endoscopic placement of metallic stent for malignant biliary obstructions - A study using a questionnaire

[Background] Endoscopic placement of metallic stents (EMS) has been established as an useful palliative procedure for biliary obstructions by advanced malignancies. However, little has been known on how the patient and his/her family accept the procedure and how they are satisfied with it. [Objectives and Methods] To evaluate the patient/family-oriented satisfaction for EMS, a questionnaire including queries about quality of life (QOL) and physician-patient relationship was sent to 12 cases who had been treated by EMS in recent 3 years in our university hospital. [Results] Seven of 12 cases (58%) answered the queries. Two patients replied by themselves and the others were from their families. All 7 cases had been told the true diagnoses before EMS. Most of the replied cases, at least to some extent, were satisfied with the communication with their doctors. They also gave comments that QOL had been improved after EMS. However, some of them wanted to share more time with their doctors concerning their problems. [Conclusions] Although the patients and their families were satisfied with EMS as a palliative treatment for their diseases, they wished to have closer communications with medical staff.