This bile duct stent with the "Dua Anti-Reflux Valve," named after its inventor, was cleared for use by FDA this year. The Dua stent, for short, has also been approved for use in Europe and Canada.
The bile duct carries bile from the liver to the intestines. When this duct is obstructed from cancers of the pancreas, gallbladder, or bile duct, bile begins to backup resulting in jaundice, itching, fever, chills, other organ malfunctions and death. About 30,000 new patients with pancreatic cancer and 4,000 new cases of bile duct cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, most frequently in older people.
Surgery to remove the tumors is generally the best treatment, but often the disease has progressed too far to consider surgery. Consequently, a stent, a tiny, hollow tube, is inserted using a minimally invasive procedure to help improve the passage of bile. However, these stents frequently clog requiring repeat procedures to replace the clogged stents. The exact mechanism that leads to stent clogging is not known. There is a possibility that clogging occurs from contents from the intestines backflowing (refluxing) into the stent.
The "Dua Anti-Reflux Valve" was initially developed to reduce reflux of stomach contents in patients with cancers of the esophagus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the "Dua Esophageal Stent" for use by patients with esophageal cancer in 2002. Using a similar windsock design, Dr. Dua modified the valve and attached it to the bile duct stent.
Laboratory studies to evaluate the flow dynamics of this modified stent showed that its valve was effective in reducing backflow while maintaining its primary function, namely forward flow. Results of these studies have also been accepted in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
Dr. D.N. Reddy from the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology in Hyderabad, India, conducted a study on 60 consecutive patients in whom the bile duct was obstructed from
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Contact: Toranj Marphetia
toranj@mcw.edu
414-456-4745
Medical College of Wisconsin
11-Dec-2006