Options for clogged stents
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Hi,
This may help a little bit,( from one of the journal article that I read).
“the latter( metal stent) are recommended in unresectable patients with malignant common bile duct strictures (median survival of 4.5 months), while plastic stents are preferred in one-third of patients who have distant metastases.23 When blocked, stents can be unclogged by dragging an extraction balloon through their obstructed lumen, by brachytherapy or by diathermic devices. Alternatively, a standard polyethylene stent or an additional metal expandable stent can be inserted through the blocked endoprosthesis. However, it is important to note that duodenal perforation and acute bleeding have been reported as a result of erosion of the duodenal wall caused by metal stents.24”
Also this link may be of help,
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=10458
The below link may help in an indirectly way.
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=7208
God bless.
Thanks, Marion. We’re hoping that someone has had experience with this and can give us an idea as to what to expect. I just spoke to my sister-in-law and she said that he is really discouraged because they told him in July that the plastic stents inside the metal ones don’t last nearly as long as just the metal ones and it is sort of a last ditch effort. He didn’t ask today what the options are once these fail. Hopefully they can swap out the plastic stents inside the metal ones, but we just don’t know.
Peggy…I don’t have the answer to this however; your brother should have less problems with metal stent occlusion now that plastic has been inserted. Fingers crossed and tons of good wishes are heading your brother’s way.
Hugs,
MarionHere is another update on my brother. A couple of weeks ago, things were looking great! His labs were great, his CT scan showed no new growth with a slight decrease in size of the largest tumor in his liver. A week later, his labs were slightly off (but still able to do chemo) and a week after that, he was jaundiced again, vomiting, etc. So, it was back to Mayo for his 4th ERCP in 4 1/2 months! They cleaned out the metal stents and placed plastic stents inside of them. Last summer, before putting in the metal stents, he was told that the metal stents should last about 9 months and after that point, they would probably clog and that as a “last ditch effort”, they can then put plastic stents inside the metal ones and that should buy him another couple months at best. Since the metal stents only lasted about 2 months and the plastic ones he’s had much shorter than that, we’re looking for what the options are if/when they become clogged again. Has anyone had experience with this? Do they take the plastic ones out from inside the metal stents and swap them out? He finds it very discouraging to have to have these repeated ERCP procedures. Thanks!
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