Migrating biliary stent in an older woman with choledocholithiasis

Endoscopy-guided plastic biliary stent insertion is successfully used to treat many biliary and pancreatic disorders. However, stent migration may occur in patients who undergo endoscopic stenting. Migration of the biliary stent generally occurs in the proximal direction, and displaced stents are usually removed by endoscopy. Distal stent migration occurs in 5–10% of biliary stent migration cases. Spontaneous and asymptomatic distal migration of the stent is rare. We report the case of a 76-year-old woman who had undergone biliary stenting with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) 1 month prior due to choledocholithiasis and was admitted to the emergency department (ED) with asymptomatic, spontaneous distal migration of her stent via normal passage to the anus. To our knowledge, no uncomplicated and asymptomatic distal biliary stent migration case has been previously reported in the literature.