Biliary stent: a report of experience in 25 Thai patients.

Biliary stent insertion was done in 25 patients. Eighteen were successful, 14 by endoscopic method and 4 by combined endoscopic percutaneous method. Twelve with malignant diseases and 4 with benign diseases had satisfactory drainage. Failed stent insertion occurred in 7 cases. Stent malfunction was found in 30 per cent and occlusion was the most common problem. Complications occurred in 32 per cent and most were mild. The 4 per cent mortality of the procedure is acceptable. Biliary stent should be considered as an alternative or as an adjunctive treatment to surgery.

Endoscopic removal of stone in patients with retained common bile duct stone and T-tube after cholecystectomy. Is it justified?

Fifteen patients with retained common bile duct (CBD) stones and T-tube and twenty patients with CBD stones without T-tube had stones removed by endoscopic method. The result of endoscopic sphincterotomy, stone extraction, stone clearance and complication in patients with T-tube was similar to the results in patients without T-tube. The presence of T-tube did not create much difficulty in stone removal and the successful rate of 86.6 per cent (13/15) was satisfactory. Endoscopic removal of retained stones in patients with T-tube is recommended when retrieval via T-tube is not available since the later has fewer reported complications with very low mortality compared to the endoscopic technique.