plastic stent in liver..anyone?

trspitfire
trspitfire Member Posts: 19
I have had a biliary drain (several in fact ) for the past year. we have decided it is time to place a stent instead of the drain tube as the tumors that had been blocking the biliary drain are gone (hooray)!, they will use the existing tube (which exits my side ) as a guide for a wire that will capture and guide the plastic stent (that will be guided from the opposite direction down my throat). Like an electrician wiring an existing wall the exterior drain / wire should guide the stent into place...I feel comfortable with this procedure and hope it all works out well, but I have yet to find anyone who has had it done...anyone out there with any advice,opinion,warning I'd love to hear from you ..

thanks so much for reading !

larry

Comments

  • NanaOhio
    NanaOhio Member Posts: 11
    Plastic Stent
    I was just in the hospital the last few weeks having a stent placed. I was jaudice and my onc sent me to see a doc friend of his to get this stent placed. He was talking about placing a titantium stent that would be more permanent. My cancer is in my liver and the tumors were pinching off my bile ducts.

    I see a surgeon next week about my gall bladder.

    So much fun.
  • trspitfire
    trspitfire Member Posts: 19
    NanaOhio said:

    Plastic Stent
    I was just in the hospital the last few weeks having a stent placed. I was jaudice and my onc sent me to see a doc friend of his to get this stent placed. He was talking about placing a titantium stent that would be more permanent. My cancer is in my liver and the tumors were pinching off my bile ducts.

    I see a surgeon next week about my gall bladder.

    So much fun.

    plastic stent
    First let me thank you for responding to my note,you are the first who has had comments or are familiar with this it seems,
    just this week I had the procedure to replace the existing drain tube with the plastic stent ,in fact the Dr said that my bile ducts/drain were in good enough shape that I could have done without, but they put one in just to be certain everything stayed open and clear. the relief from having the drainage tube (changed about 8 times over the past year)removed was immediate, I just have a hole in my side from the tube that needs to heal. I don't know if Avastin is a part of your chemo treatment, but my oncologist says its probably what was responsible for the eradication of the tumors in my liver in 6 months (treatments with other drugs every two weeks.) I hope all goes well with you, I see that if its appropriate the use of a stent over a drain tube (which seems to clog often and requires a lot of maintenance and discomfort) has its advantages, but above all listen to your Dr's, placing a stent (and the metal ones are more permanent )and removing one if there is a problem can be risky, its a different scenario for everyone, I am definitely glad that we took the plastic stent route, but it may not be an alternative for everyone.
    thank you again for your response to my inquiry
  • doura
    doura Member Posts: 5

    plastic stent
    First let me thank you for responding to my note,you are the first who has had comments or are familiar with this it seems,
    just this week I had the procedure to replace the existing drain tube with the plastic stent ,in fact the Dr said that my bile ducts/drain were in good enough shape that I could have done without, but they put one in just to be certain everything stayed open and clear. the relief from having the drainage tube (changed about 8 times over the past year)removed was immediate, I just have a hole in my side from the tube that needs to heal. I don't know if Avastin is a part of your chemo treatment, but my oncologist says its probably what was responsible for the eradication of the tumors in my liver in 6 months (treatments with other drugs every two weeks.) I hope all goes well with you, I see that if its appropriate the use of a stent over a drain tube (which seems to clog often and requires a lot of maintenance and discomfort) has its advantages, but above all listen to your Dr's, placing a stent (and the metal ones are more permanent )and removing one if there is a problem can be risky, its a different scenario for everyone, I am definitely glad that we took the plastic stent route, but it may not be an alternative for everyone.
    thank you again for your response to my inquiry

    permenant stent
    hi
    i just came back from the hospital my mom has just been through this procedure but because she is in a rather bad condition she had the metal permenant one
    nothing yet but the doc is expecting the bullirubin will be normal in 1 week time
    i didn't think that knowing pepole w the same condition helps & encourages a lot
    hope every thing goes well for u & for my mom