Endoscopic placement of polyethylene stents is a well-established therapy for treatment of a variety of benign and malignant biliary tract diseases. Stent clogging by bacteria, bacterial biofilm, and biliary sludge is a major late complication affecting all kinds of plastic endoprostheses.1, 2 Efforts to prevent stent clogging utilizing long-term oral antibiotics, gallstone dissolution agents, choleretics, mucolytics, silver or antibiotic impregnation of stents and modification of stent size, shape, and number of sideholes have met with little success.3-6 The expandable metal stents have recently been evaluated because of problems with plastic stent occlusion. However, their inability to be removed nonsurgically, relative high cost, and the potential for occlusion by tumor ingrowth may limit application of the currently available expandable stents.7,8 Until modifications to prevent plastic stent occlusion are developed, such stents will need to be exchanged periodically. Standard practice has been to remove the old stent by grasping the intraduodenal portion with a snare, basket, or forceps and withdrawing the scope, depositing the stent in the stomach for later removal or pulling the stent through the biopsy channel. The bile duct is then recannulated and a fresh stent inserted. This approach risks loss of access to the obstructed segment, which is of particular concern in hilar tumors. A wire-guided metal spiral retrieval device9 and a hydrostatic balloon1o have been utilized to circumvent this problem. However, both add additional cost to the procedure and require perfect alignment of the retrieval device and stent for successful stent removal. We report a new simple stent retrieval technique that allows for maintenance of position in