Esophageal cancer is now the sixth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide [
1,
2]. During the past three decades, important changes have occurred in the epidemiologic patterns associated with this disease [
1]. Due to the distensible characteristics of the esophagus, patients may not recognize any symptoms until 50% of the luminal diameter is compromised, explaining why cancer of the esophagus is generally associated with late presentation and poor prognosis [
3]. Esophageal cancer has a poor outcome, with an overall 5 year survival rate of less than 10%, and fewer than 50% of patients are suitable for resection at presentation. As a result palliation is the best option in this group of patients [
3,
4]. The aims of palliation are maintenance of oral intake, minimizing hospital stay, relief of pain, elimination of reflux and regurgitation, and prevention of aspiration [
3,
5,
6]. For palliative care, current treatment options include thermal ablation [
7‐
9], photodynamic therapy [
10‐
12], radiotherapy [
13], chemotherapy [
14,
15], chemical injection therapy [
16‐
18], argon beam or bipolar electrocoagulation therapy [
19], enteral feeding (nasogastric tube/percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) [
20‐
22], and intubation (self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) or semi-rigid prosthetic tubes) [
5,
6,
23‐
26] with different success and complications rates.