A case of stent-graft implantation for postpancreaticoduodenectomy hemorrhage in a patient with a reconstructed gastric tube

Abstract

In patients with a reconstructed gastric tube, the right gastroepiploic artery is a very important feeding artery of the tube, which must be preserved when performing a pancreaticoduodenectomy. A 76-year-old man with a reconstructed gastric tube underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for distal bile duct carcinoma. On postoperative day 8, he had an arterial hemorrhage from a drain, apparently from a ligation of the anterior superior duodenal artery. He, therefore, underwent stent-graft placement in the gastroduodenal artery. The stent-grafts were temporarily occluded, and the gastric tube was necrotizing. However, thrombolytic therapy allowed the stent-grafts to reopen and prevented gastric tube necrosis. We believe our case of stent-graft implantation in the gastroduodenal artery is the first of this kind to successfully prevent lethal necrosis of the gastric tube.