Dr. Michel Kahaleh

"Most patients who develop this type of cancer cannot have surgery as it is diagnosed at such a late stage, so there was not much we could do except offer them palliative care," said University of Virginia Gastroenterologist Michel Kahaleh, M.D., lead investigator of the study. "By combining therapies, we ...

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Dr. Michel Kahaleh Associate Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Director of Pancreatico-Biliary Services, University of Virginia

"It is important that we can now relieve these very significant complications without the major surgery that can often lead to long-term hospitalization and possibly death," said Dr. Michel Kahaleh, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of internal medicine at UVa's Digestive Health Center of Excellence."We can provide resolution of jaundice and alleviate the symptoms for a long period of time, at least long enough until patients are able to have their cancer treated with surgery."

Between March 2001 and November 2004, UVa doctors inserted 88 stents called covered Wallstents (manufactured by Boston Scientific, Inc.) in 80 patients at UVa with bile duct obstructions from malignant cancer.These stents were developed to prevent the growth of tumors into the stent itself and feature a metallic skeleton bound to a synthetic covering resistant to bile and other gastric and pancreatic juices.Writing in the April 2005 issue of the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Kahaleh and his UVa colleagues report that the stents were still open in 90 percent of the patients after three months and were open in almost 80 percent of patients after one year.Complications, however, included migration (movement) of the stent, occlusion of the stent and obstructions of the cystic duct.

"This is a very aggressive disease that we're fighting, as most patients are diagnosed when we can only offer palliative care," said Michel Kahaleh, MD, of the University of Virginia and lead investigator of the study.
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"While we are pleased with the results of the study, we need to better understand if the effect is attributable primarily to the photodynamic therapy or to the number of ERCP sessions," said Dr. Kahaleh.

Michel Kahaleh, MDUniversity of Virginia Digestive Health Center

Michel Kahaleh, University of Virginia, USA

"It is important that we can now relieve these very significant complications without the major surgery that can often lead to long-term hospitalization and possibly death," said Dr. Michel Kahaleh, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of internal medicine at UVa's Digestive Health Center of Excellence."We can provide resolution of jaundice and alleviate the symptoms for a long period of time, at least long enough until patients are able to have their cancer treated with surgery."

Between March 2001 and November 2004, UVa doctors inserted 88 stents called covered Wallstents (manufactured by Boston Scientific, Inc.) in 80 patients at UVa with bile duct obstructions from malignant cancer.These stents were developed to prevent the growth of tumors into the stent itself and feature a metallic skeleton bound to a synthetic covering resistant to bile and other gastric and pancreatic juices.Writing in the April 2005 issue of the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Kahaleh and his UVa colleagues report that the stents were still open in 90 percent of the patients after three months and were open in almost 80 percent of patients after one year.Complications, however, included migration (movement) of the stent, occlusion of the stent and obstructions of the cystic duct.

"It is important that we can now relieve these very significant complications without the major surgery that can often lead to long-term hospitalization and possibly death," said Dr. Michel Kahaleh, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of internal medicine at UVa's Digestive Health Center of Excellence."We can provide resolution of jaundice and alleviate the symptoms for a long period of time, at least long enough until patients are able to have their cancer treated with surgery."

Between March 2001 and November 2004, UVa doctors inserted 88 stents called covered Wallstents (manufactured by Boston Scientific, Inc.) in 80 patients at UVa with bile duct obstructions from malignant cancer.These stents were developed to prevent the growth of tumors into the stent itself and feature a metallic skeleton bound to a synthetic covering resistant to bile and other gastric and pancreatic juices.Writing in the April 2005 issue of the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Kahaleh and his UVa colleagues report that the stents were still open in 90 percent of the patients after three months and were open in almost 80 percent of patients after one year.Complications, however, included migration (movement) of the stent, occlusion of the stent and obstructions of the cystic duct.
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Dr. Kahaleh and his UVa colleagues plan to present their findings about covered metal stents at the 2005 Digestive Disease Week conference in Chicago, Illinois May 14-19.

Co-authors of the study with Kahaleh from UVa were Dr. Paul Yeaton, Dr. Jeffrey Tokar, Mark Conaway, PhD, Dr. Andrew Brock, Dr. Tri Le and Dr. Reid B. Adams.

Isaac Raijman, Digestive Associates of Houston, TX, Paul Tarnasky, Digestive Health Associates, Methodist Pavilion, Dallas, TX, Dr. Sandeep Patel, Assistant Professor, Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Director of Pancreatico-Biliary Endoscopy, University of Texas Health Science Center, Medicine, San Antonio, TX, Michel Kahaleh, Associate Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Virginia.

Dr. Michel Kahaleh Associate Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Director of Pancreatico-Biliary Services, University of Virginia