Abstract
We rarely encounter reports on bile duct stone formation caused by a foreign body in the bile duct. Recently we experienced a case of common bile duct stones formed by a migrated biliary stent which served a nidus for the stone formation.
The case involved a 58-year-old man who had undergone endoscopic stenting as a therapy for acute cholecystitis caused by choledocholithiasis elsewhere in April 2000. In June 2010, the patient was seen at our hospital because of right hypochondralgia. Abdominal CT scan and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatogrophy (MRCP) revealed dilatation of the intrahepatic bile duct and common bile duct stones, when the stent placed 10 years earlier had completely migrated into the common bile duct. Endoscopic removal of the stent was impossible. Choledocholithotomy, biliary drainage, and removal of the stent were thus performed in July 2010. The stent was still patent, but common bile duct stones had been formed around the stent as the nidus. It is etiologically considered that the presence of the bile duct stent might have caused the stone formation.
