Re: Back from Indianapolis / Stents

[Guest guest]

,

You wrote, " I am back from Indianapolis. "

I am glad you got home okay. Did you catch the ice / snow storm? I live in

Indianapolis, close to IU Hospital. When you come down next time, give me a call

and I'll make a hospital visit. Which doctor did you see?

You wrote, " Why can they successfully use stents for cardiac and they don't

clog up? ... It seems like the consistency of blood is pretty close to bile???

My mother has had heart surgery and I have thought the same thing. About the

stents, anyway. Regarding the blood vs bile, the consistency may be similar

but we should be lucky that their are no digestive juices in blood. The

pancreatic digestive juices like amylase and lipase, just eat the stent up. They

are

different from the heart stent, however, in that the heart stents are made of a

material that promotes a layer of cells to grow over it, in hopes they are

accepted by the heart and not rejected. You may hear about pancreatic stents

" coming out. " That is because they are not designed to be in their permanently.

If they become nested in the duct, they are difficult to remove by the Endo. I

would be interested to hear more from your cardiologist.

Again, welcome home!

Karyn E. , RN

Executive Director, PAI

http://www.pancassociation.org

Pancreatitis Association International