Response letter to the editor

Abstract

We are delighted that Fritzsche et al have expressed an interest in our randomised trial investigating the effects of endoluminal radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on survival and stent patency in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients.1 2 We fully agree that plastic stents are likely to exhibit shorter patency in patients with CCA. The low patency in our small subgroup of patients treated with RFA and plastic stents (n=5) was due to the development of acute cholangitis within 2 weeks of the index procedures, requiring reintervention in three of these patients. We used plastic stents only in situations where anatomical considerations did not allow for the safe and reliable use of metal stents. We believe that this decision was necessary and fully justified in this more susceptible subset of patients. Interestingly, we observed no difference in stent patency in PDAC patients, even though almost all …