Stent Removal

I just have a general question about the normal procedure with stents. Are stents removed after they have been in place for 4 - 6 weeks? I don't know alot about bile duct obstruction or stents, but this is the first time I have ever heard of one being removed. This recently happened to one of my relatives and when they went in to remove the stent they said they saw something and now have scheduled him for a lengthy operation to remove the obstruction.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

My husband just got a new stent, only 4 weeks after the first. This one is wider and he allready starts eating better. The new stent was brought in by ERCP. All went very smoothly and in the afternoon I could take him home allready.

Hope this helps you too. Love,

Iris.

HI,

Stents can not stay in place for a long time. Depending on the obstruction a stent will be replaced about every three months or sooner. If a lenghty operation is planned, you should ask if they are planning a whipple? That's a very long and complicated operation where part of the liver, the gallbladder, the bile duct, part of the stomach and sometimes also the pancreas head and part of the intestines are removed. It usually takes the patient a very long time to recover from that. But if they do, they can return to an active life. If this is the surgery that is planned, I think your relative may have klatskin,  a bile duct carcinoma.

Wish you all the best

On 6/7/2007 Patty64 wrote:

HI,

Stents can not stay in place for a long time. Depending on the obstruction a stent will be replaced about every three months or sooner. If a lenghty operation is planned, you should ask if they are planning a whipple? That's a very long and complicated operation where part of the liver, the gallbladder, the bile duct, part of the stomach and sometimes also the pancreas head and part of the intestines are removed. It usually takes the patient a very long time to recover from that. But if they do, they can return to an active life. If this is the surgery that is planned, I think your relative may have klatskin,  a bile duct carcinoma.

Wish you all the best

 

Interesting...stent removal....i had a plastic stent put in quickly to change my color from yellow to normal and to get all that toxic waste that was collecting up in my body to drain away...the plastic stent was in 8 days and then i went back and now have 2 metal stents...i had no idea that metal stents had an expiration date.  Maybe I should be more concerned about the cancerous nodes anyway.  Iris ...the way you speak of your husband I see that he and I are of the same mind set....we know we have it....it will not disappear....we will thoroughly enjoy our Good Days....Quality before Quantity please.

Iris, I will keep your hotmail email address for future reference.  This esophagus thing is a bit of a pain but is not painful.  I am going to be a Bad Girl and not tell my hospice nurse that it is continuing until after I get back from the Atlantic Ocean/sand.  I am hoping it corrects itself (it can)...I don't want to hear anything about a blockage....

Let's not lose track of each other...ok?

Pam