An abdominal stent is a medical device that supports or opens hollow structures within the body’s abdominal region. These small tubes, often made of metallic mesh, are placed to ensure proper flow through narrowed or weakened vessels and ducts. This helps restore normal bodily functions and prevent serious health complications from blockages or structural weaknesses.
Understanding Abdominal Stents
An abdominal stent is a small, expandable tube, constructed from a metallic alloy or polymer, sometimes covered with a fabric graft. Its primary purpose is to maintain the patency, or openness, of a specific vessel or duct within the abdomen. For instance, with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a stent graft (a fabric tube supported by metal mesh) strengthens a weakened aorta. This device acts as an internal scaffold, allowing blood or other fluids to flow freely without putting pressure on the compromised vessel wall. The graft ensures blood flows through the device, bypassing the weakened section.
Conditions Requiring an Abdominal Stent
Abdominal stents address various medical conditions involving blockages, narrowing, or weakening of abdominal structures. A common use is treating abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), where the aorta, the body’s largest artery, develops a balloon-like bulge due to weakened walls. If an AAA grows larger than 5 to 5.5 centimeters or expands rapidly, a stent graft reinforces the artery wall and prevents rupture.
Stents also manage obstructions in other abdominal ducts and vessels. For example, they keep bile ducts open if narrowed by tumors or gallstones, ensuring proper bile flow from the gallbladder and pancreas to the duodenum. Stents can also be placed in the urinary tract to address blockages in the ureters, which are tubes that carry urine, restoring normal urine flow. For advanced colorectal cancer, flexible metal mesh stents relieve colon blockages, allowing stool passage and alleviating symptoms like abdominal pain and constipation.
The Abdominal Stent Procedure
Abdominal stent placement, especially for conditions like an abdominal aortic aneurysm, is a minimally invasive procedure known as endovascular repair. This approach is performed under general anesthesia. The surgeon makes a small incision, typically near the groin, to access an artery like the femoral artery.
A thin, flexible catheter is inserted into the artery and guided through blood vessels to the aneurysm or blockage site using imaging techniques like X-rays. The compressed stent or stent graft is delivered through this catheter. Once accurately positioned, the stent deploys, expanding to open the vessel or reinforce the weakened wall. After the stent is secure, the catheter is withdrawn, and the groin incision is closed.
Life After Abdominal Stent Placement
After abdominal stent placement, recovery is shorter than traditional open surgery, with a hospital stay of a few days. Immediately after the procedure, patients may feel tired, and a healthcare provider may recommend lying flat for several hours to aid leg wound healing. Discomfort, such as swelling in the upper thigh, leg numbness, or mild abdominal pain, may occur during the initial days.
Patients receive specific activity restrictions, including avoiding heavy lifting (more than 5 pounds), refraining from driving until cleared, and taking showers instead of baths. Regular follow-up appointments monitor the stent’s position and function, involving imaging tests at one month, six months, and annually. While many stents are permanent, some, like certain biliary or urinary stents, may be temporary. Patients should contact their doctor if they experience new or worsening abdominal pain, leg pain, dizziness, or signs of infection at the incision site, as these could indicate complications like stent migration, re-narrowing, or infection.