Small bowel perforation from a migrated biliary stent: A case report and review of literature

Bowel perforation from biliary stent migration is a serious potential complication of biliary stents, but fortunately has an incidence of less than 1%.

We report a case of a 54-year-old Caucasian woman with a history of Human Immunodeficiency virus with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, alcoholic liver cirrhosis, portal vein thrombosis and extensive past surgical history who presented with acute abdominal pain and local peritonitis. On further evaluation she was diagnosed with small bowel perforation secondary to migrated biliary stents and underwent exploratory laparotomy with therapeutic intervention.

This case presentation reports on the unusual finding of two migrated biliary stents, with one causing perforation. In addition, we review the relevant literature on migrated stents.