Medical Oncologist
CION Cancer Clinics
Who places stents and drains, and what to ask them | CION Cancer Clinics
Most stents and drains in cancer care are placed by an interventional radiologist, who works through a small opening guided by live scan pictures, or by a gastroenterologist using a camera through the mouth or back passage. Chest doctors place airway stents and urologists place kidney stents. Your oncologist still leads the plan. This page explains who does which procedure and what to ask them. CION Cancer Clinics’ surgical oncologists in Hyderabad can talk this through with you.
MM
Medically reviewed by Dr. Muralidhar MuddusettyConsultant Surgical Oncologist · MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery, AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh) · last reviewed September 2026, next review due September 2027
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On this page
- Who actually puts in a stent or a drain?
- Which specialists might you meet?
- Which procedure usually goes to which specialist?
- How do you get from your oncologist to the right specialist?
- What should you ask about the person doing your procedure?
- What do families assume about who does these procedures?
- What do the procedure names on your paperwork mean?
- Common questions about who performs stents and drains
The short answer
Who actually puts in a stent or a drain?
It depends on where in the body the stent or drain is going. Stents placed through the skin or inside a vein are usually put in by an interventional radiologist, a doctor who works with X-ray, ultrasound and CT pictures instead of large cuts. Stents placed through the mouth or back passage are usually put in by a gastroenterologist, and stents in the windpipe or the urine tubes by a chest physician or a urologist.
Why it is not always the surgeon
Many families expect the surgical oncologist who is treating the cancer to do every procedure. Stents and drains are a different skill. They are done through a needle, a thin tube or a camera, so the person with the most practice at that route usually does it, while your cancer team stays in charge of the overall plan.
What this page cannot tell you
Who does the procedure varies between hospitals, and sometimes between two patients in the same hospital. The names below are the usual pattern, not a rule. Your own centre will tell you who is doing yours, and you are entitled to ask.
The people involved
Which specialists might you meet?
Most stent and drain procedures involve more than one person. These are the doctors whose names you are most likely to see.
Interventional radiologist
Works through a small nick in the skin, guided by live pictures on a screen. Often the person for drains into the chest or abdomen and for stents in veins or bile ducts reached from outside.
Often places
- Pigtail drains for fluid
- Venous stents for SVC obstruction
- Bile drains through the skin
Gastroenterologist
Uses an endoscope, a flexible camera passed through the mouth or back passage. Many are trained in stenting the food pipe, the bowel and the bile duct.
Pulmonologist or chest surgeon
Places stents in a narrowed windpipe using a bronchoscope, a camera passed into the airway, and may put in chest drains.
Urologist
Places and changes ureteric stents, the thin tubes that keep urine flowing from the kidney to the bladder.
The supporting team
An anaesthetist gives sedation or anaesthesia. Nurses and radiographers run the room. Your oncologist decides whether a stent fits the wider cancer plan.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistAt a glance
Which procedure usually goes to which specialist?
Procedure
Usually performed by
Oesophageal stent for swallowing problems
Gastroenterologist, sometimes an interventional radiologist
Biliary stent for jaundice
Gastroenterologist through ERCP, or an interventional radiologist through the skin
Colonic stent for a blocked bowel
Gastroenterologist or colorectal surgeon
Airway stent
Pulmonologist or chest surgeon
Ureteric (DJ) stent
Urologist
Venous stent, pigtail or abscess drain
Interventional radiologist
How it is arranged
How do you get from your oncologist to the right specialist?
The problem is spotted
Trouble swallowing, jaundice, a swollen face, fluid on the lung or a blocked kidney is noticed by you or found on a scan. Your cancer team decides whether a stent or drain might help.
The case is discussed
Your oncologist talks to the specialist who would do it, often at a tumour board meeting where several specialists look at the scans together.
You meet the person doing it
They explain the procedure, check your blood tests and medicines, and ask for your written consent. This is the moment to ask your questions.
Care comes back to your team
After the procedure, follow-up usually returns to your oncologist, with the specialist involved again if the stent or drain needs checking or changing.
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Before you agree
What should you ask about the person doing your procedure?
It is reasonable to ask who will do the procedure and how often they do it. A good team will not mind the question. You do not need to compare doctors by name to ask it well.
Questions that help
Ask who will place the stent or drain, and whether they regularly do this exact procedure. Ask whether it will be done under sedation or general anaesthesia. Ask who you call if it blocks, slips or leaks at night, and whether the same team will change or remove it later.
Questions about the centre
Ask whether the centre has the imaging room or endoscopy suite this procedure needs, and what happens if you have to be moved elsewhere for it. If the procedure needs a different hospital, ask how your reports and scans will travel with you.
When a stent is not the right answer
A stent or drain is not offered to everyone. Sometimes the blockage is too long, the person is too unwell for sedation, or another treatment is likely to help sooner. The specialist may say no, and that decision is part of their expertise.
Nothing on this page tells you whether you should have a procedure. That decision belongs to you and your treating team.Commonly believed
What do families assume about who does these procedures?
"A radiologist only reads scans. They cannot do procedures."
Interventional radiologists are doctors with extra training in treating patients through needles and fine tubes. Placing a stent or drain under live imaging is their daily work.
"If it is not a surgeon, it is not serious."
These are real procedures with real risks, even without a large cut. They are done by the specialist trained in that route, and your consent form will list the risks for your procedure.
"We should insist on our own surgeon doing it."
Your surgeon may not do stenting at all. Asking to be referred to the right specialist is usually more useful than asking your surgeon to step outside their own work.
"Once the stent is in, the oncologist is no longer involved."
The stent eases a symptom. Your oncologist still leads the cancer treatment, and should hear about any problem with the stent or drain.
On the consent form
What do the procedure names on your paperwork mean?
- Endoscopy
- A flexible camera passed through the mouth or back passage to look inside and, where needed, place a stent.
- ERCP
- An endoscopy that reaches the bile duct from inside the gut, often used to place a biliary stent.
- PTBD
- A drain passed through the skin into the bile ducts of the liver, used when ERCP is not possible.
- Bronchoscopy
- A camera passed into the windpipe and airways.
- Fluoroscopy
- Live X-ray pictures on a screen that guide the tube into place.
- Cystoscopy
- A camera passed into the bladder, used to place or change a ureteric stent.
Questions we are asked
Common questions about who performs stents and drains
What is an interventional radiologist?
A doctor trained first in reading scans and then in treating patients using those same pictures to guide needles, wires and fine tubes. Instead of a large cut, they work through a small opening in the skin or a vein. Many stents and drains in cancer care are placed this way.
Will my surgeon be in the room?
Usually not, unless the procedure is being done during an operation. Your surgeon or oncologist asks for the stent, and the specialist who places it takes charge in the procedure room. Both will usually talk about the result afterwards and plan what comes next together.
Will I be awake?
Many stent and drain procedures are done under local anaesthetic with sedation, so you are drowsy and comfortable but not fully asleep. Some, such as airway stents, often need a general anaesthetic. The specialist and anaesthetist will tell you which applies before you sign the consent form.
Can we ask for a different specialist?
You can ask questions about who is doing the procedure and why. If you would like a second opinion, tell your treating team. In an emergency, though, the right step is usually the specialist who is available and trained for it, rather than waiting for a named doctor.
Who do we call if the drain stops working at home?
Ask this before you leave hospital, and write the number down. Usually it is the team that placed the drain, or the ward you were discharged from. If the person has a fever, severe pain or breathing trouble, go to an emergency department instead of waiting for a call back.
Does the specialist decide whether I need a stent?
The decision is shared. Your cancer team decides whether a stent fits the plan. The specialist decides whether it can be placed safely and which route to use. Either can say it is not the right choice, and both should explain why.
Is a stent placed by a radiologist less safe than surgery?
These are different kinds of procedure, so they are not directly comparable. A stent avoids a large cut, but it still carries risks such as bleeding, infection or the stent moving. Ask the specialist to explain the risks of your own procedure, in plain words, before you agree.
Will the same person change or remove the stent later?
Often, but not always. Stents that need changing, such as ureteric stents, are usually managed by the same specialty. Ask who will track when yours is due, because a forgotten stent can block. Keep the discharge summary safe, since it names the stent and the date it was placed.
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Medical Oncologist
Dr. C. Raghavendra Reddy
MBBS(Gold Medal), DNB(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Gold Medal)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Bharati Devi Gorantla
MBBS, MD(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Adyar,Chennai), ECMO, MRCP SCE(UK)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Owais Mohammed
MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DrNB (Medical Oncology), ECMO, MRCP SCE (Medical Oncology) (UK)
Medical Oncologist
Medical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Muralidhar Muddusetty
MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery) (AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh)
Surgical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Vinay Mamidala
MBBS, MS(General Surgery), M.Ch(Surgical Oncology), FMAS, FARIS(Ongoing)
Surgical Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Hematologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Vajja Sandeep Kumar
MBBS, MS (General Surgery), DrNB (Surgical Oncology), FALS Oncology
Surgical Oncologist
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Sources
- National Cancer Institute — NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
- NHS — Health A to Z
- Cancer Research UK — About cancer
- American Cancer Society — Managing cancer side effects
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
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