Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of endoscopic plastic stent and metal stent placement in relieving obstructive jaundice in patients with pancreatic cancer,and to analyse the cost effectiveness.Methods A retrospective review was performed on the clinical data of 102 pancreatic cancer patients with obstructive jaundice in General Hospital of Northern Theater Command between January 2013 to January 2014.The patients were divided into plastic stent group (n =26) and metal stent group (n =76)based on the type of biliary stent placed under endoscopy.The complication and short-term therapeutic effect were compared between two groups.The number of endoscopic stent placement,treatment interval,hospitalization cost and median survival time were recorded.Results The levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TBiL) in the two groups 5-7 days after endotherapy were significantly lower than those before treatment,but the difference was not statistically significant between the two groups (P ＜0.05).No severe complication was observed.The average number of treatments in the metal stent group was significantly lower than that in the plastic stent group (1.7 times vs 2.9 times),and the treatment interval was significantly longer[(271.7 ± 42.3) d vs (113.4 ± 38.2) d].The difference above between these two groups was statistically significant (P＜0.05).However,there was no significant difference on the average total hospitalization cost (84227.2 yuan vs 86906.8 yuan) or median survival time (15.6 months vs 13.1 months)between these two groups.Conclusions Primary placement of metal biliary stents for obstructive jaundice in adult patients with metastatic pancreatic carcinoma was cost-effective than plastic stents,and their effects were comparable.