Stent query

[uncleg]

Hi everyone i am about to go back to hospital for my 6th throat dilation, during my last visit a stent was mentioned apparently there is a disolving stent, i wondered if anyone had come across these before, any news would be greatfully accepted

[JohnS1]

Hi Uncleg,

I heard of these 3 years ago when a trial/study of them was planned at the Christie in Manchester with me giving general comment on the proposal from a patients perspective.

Unfortunately the Clinical Oncologist running this left for another post before it really got off the ground but here's the little I gleaned about them.

They are used in place of a metal stent or other non absorbable one but disolve in around 2 plus months. (No clear time given and they may have been developed further since.)

I understood they cause less discomfort than metal ones and are less likely to be rejected. However this trial was to use them for another purpose other than throat dilation so I can only add these few points.

I hope it's reassuring to know they've been around a while and their use does not appear daunting and could be a good help with your situation. Best of luck with this and please keep us informed.

JohnS

[uncleg in reply to JohnS1]

Hi John thankyou very much for your informative reply,

I will prompt for the " disolving stent" tomorrow and will gladly keep the post informed as to good and bad points

Regards Graham

[uncleg]

Hi everybody, at the end of feb i was due to go for my 6th throat dilatation as you can see John kindly replied re stents and type. I have been desperate to comment once again but didnt want to jinx the outcome but feel i can now let you know how things went.

After asking my consultant about stenting he was happy to go ahead with the procedure but offered his ten penneth stating that 1) they can feel unatural in the throat 2) can cause their own problems in themselves ,so after thinking about this i decided to go for dilatation for the 7th time , I am pleased to report im 14 days on now eating everything and anything ..no dicomfort , no vomitting the horrible bubbly mucus which caused the most distress dont worry im touching wood all the time.

The main thing i want to add which i think is more significant is that during our conversation i tried to explain to my consultant that i felt like it wasnt a blockage as such but felt more like an air lock in my throat which caused my vommiting and all that came up was frothy mucus as well as anything i had eaten so he decided to try me on SUCRALFATE which dries secretions in the stomach and immediatley i saw benefits , Im not sugesting for a minute this will work for all but i do think its worth a try as is anything because i know how this can make us feel

Thanx for reading i will let you know how i go on this next month