Outcome of forgotten biliary stents for more than five years-A two-decade experience

Shyam Sunder Sharma; Sudhir Maharshi; Bharat Sapra; Sandeep Nijhawan; Dhruv Sharma

doi:10.1007/s12664-023-01493-y

Outcome of forgotten biliary stents for more than five years-A two-decade experience

Indian J Gastroenterol. 2024 Jan 11. doi: 10.1007/s12664-023-01493-y. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shyam Sunder Sharma¹, Sudhir Maharshi², Bharat Sapra¹, Sandeep Nijhawan¹, Dhruv Sharma³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, S M S Medical College and Hospitals, Room No. 218, Superspeciality Block, Jaipur, 302 004, India.
² Department of Gastroenterology, S M S Medical College and Hospitals, Room No. 218, Superspeciality Block, Jaipur, 302 004, India. sudhir.maharshi@gmail.com.
³ Department of Surgery, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Hospitals, Jaipur, 303 905, India.

PMID: 38206449
DOI: 10.1007/s12664-023-01493-y

Abstract

Background and objectives: Prolonged biliary stenting may lead to complications such as cholangitis, stentolith and stent migration. There is limited data on forgotten biliary stents for more than five years in literature. The aim of this retrospective study was to analyze the complications and outcomes in patients who forgot to get their biliary stents removed or exchanged for more than five years.

Methods: The study population included patients who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and plastic biliary stent placements in a tertiary care center from 1990 to 2022 for benign biliary diseases. Loss to follow-up and subsequent forgotten stent for more than five years were observed in 40 patients who underwent ERCP during this study period. We retrospectively analyzed the indications of stenting, present status of stent, complications and outcomes in the study patients.

Results: The mean age of the study patients was 51.5 ± 11.5 years with 27 females. Indications of biliary stent placement were choledocholithiasis (33, 82.5%), bile leak (3, 7.5%), benign biliary stricture (2, 5%) and choledochal cyst (2, 5%). The mean duration of forgotten stent was 5.9 ± 3.6 years. Presenting symptoms were abdominal pain (37, 92.5%), fever (26, 65%) and jaundice (32, 80%). Most commonly placed stent was 7 French double pigtail of 10 cm length. Complications in the study patients were cholangitis (35, 87.5%), internal migration (2, 5%), pancreatitis (1, 2.5%) and portal hypertension (1, 2.5%). The outcomes were stone removal (30, 90.9%), stent removal (31, 77.5%), stent reinsertion (19, 47.5%), broken stent (3, 7.5%) and surgery (2, 5%).

Conclusions: Prolonged duration (> 5 years) of forgotten stent is uncommon and is observed most commonly in patients with choledocholithiasis. The most common complication of long duration of forgotten stents was cholangitis followed by internal migration, pancreatitis and portal hypertension. Stone and stent removal was successful in a majority of patents, while surgery was required in less number of patients.

Keywords: Bile leak; Biliary; Biliary Stricture; Broken stent; Cholangitis; Choledocholithiasis; Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; Migrated stent; Pancreatobiliary; Prolong duration; Stent removal; Stents.