Prospective study on planned biliary stent placement to treat small common bile duct stones.

Aims: Small common bile duct stones are known to occasionally clear spontaneously. This study aimed to prospectively assess the role of biliary stent placement in promoting the spontaneous clearance of small common bile duct stones. Methods and Results: We analyzed patients presenting with common bile duct stones of ≤5 mm diameter between June 2020 and May 2022. The exclusion criteria included asymptomatic patients, biliary pancreatitis, altered gastrointestinal anatomy, bile duct strictures (malignant or benign), and a history of EST. The biliary stents were inserted without stone removal. Stone clearance was assessed using endoscopic ultrasonography or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography after 3 months. Our primary endpoint was the clearance rate of common bile duct stones over 6 months, targeting a lower limit for the 95% confidence interval (CI) exceeding 25%. Of the 32 enrolled patients, 18 (56.3%; 95% CI: 37.7-73.6%) exhibited stone clearance. Early complications occurred in 11 patients (34.4%), totaling 12 incidents: acute cholecystitis in four, acute pancreatitis in three, biliary pain in three, and cholangitis in two patients. No severe complications occurred. Six (18.8%) patients experienced asymptomatic stent migration. Following stone clearance, four (12.5%) patients experienced stone recurrence, with an average duration of 256 ± 164 days. Conclusion: Biliary stenting appeared to effectively promote the clearance of small common bile duct stones in approximately half of the patients. However, the potential complications and risks of stone recurrence warrant close monitoring.This trial was registered in the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jRCT1042200020).

Eosinophilic pancreatitis with serum IgG4-positivity, potentially associated with autoimmune pancreatitis.

A 70-year-old man presented with unprovoked weight loss and intermittent left upper quadrant tenderness for one-and-a-half month. Computed tomography revealed irregular cystic lesions in the pancreatic tail. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) revealed pancreatic tail enlargement and giant, thick-walled cysts surrounding the pancreatic tail with no connection with the pancreatic duct. Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration was performed on the enlarged pancreatic parenchyma and thickened cyst wall. Both biopsies showed hyper eosinophilia and few plasma cells. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography revealed an irregular narrowing of the main pancreatic duct. Pancreatic juice cytology revealed substantial eosinophilia. Blood sampling showed an elevated eosinophil count and immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) and immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels at the initial examination. We considered the patient to have eosinophilic pancreatitis (EP) with autoimmune pancreatitis, or alternately, EP with IgG4-related retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF). Upon prednisolone administration, the abdominal pain improved, the peripheral blood eosinophil count decreased to zero, IgG4 and IgE levels decreased, pancreatic enlargement improved, and the cystic lesions disappeared. The condition did not recur within the following 3 years. Both EP and EP with IgG4-related RPF are rare etiologies of pancreatitis, and this case is very instructive.

An adult female case of autoimmune pancreatitis with gastric outlet obstruction complicated by annular pancreas.

A 65-year-old woman presented with epigastric pain persisting for more than 3 months. She was diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), based on high serum IgG4 levels (981 mg/dL) and diffuse pancreatic enlargement with a capsule-like rim on computed tomography (CT). Additionally, the main pancreatic duct was indistinct on magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. CT, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and upper gastrointestinal radiography revealed stenosis with gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) in the second part of the duodenum. Prednisolone administration was initiated as treatment; on day 3 of treatment, the patient's symptoms improved. After 2 weeks, CT and endoscopic ultrasonography of the duodenal bulbs revealed improvement of the enlarged pancreas. The second part of the duodenum ran into the pancreatic head, and no malignant lesions were observed. Based on the above findings, we suspect that she developed AIP in the annular pancreas (AnnP), where duodenal stenosis worsened with diffuse pancreatic enlargement, resulting in GOO. She is currently under careful observation with tapering of prednisolone-without surgical treatment for AnnP. The pathogenesis of GOO caused by AIP without malignancy is rare. One case of GOO caused by AIP, wherein AIP developed in the AnnP (similar to the present case), has been reported, highlighting the novelty of our report.

Comparison of Diagnostic Yield and Safety of Serial Pancreatic Juice Aspiration Cytologic Examination (SPACE) with Different Indications.

We assessed whether there are differences in the diagnostic yield and safety of serial pancreatic juice aspiration cytologic examination (SPACE) among different indications. We retrospectively analyzed 226 patients who underwent SPACE. They were classified into group A (patients with pancreatic masses, including advanced adenocarcinoma, sclerosing pancreatitis, or autoimmune pancreatitis), group B (suspicious pancreatic carcinoma patients without obvious pancreatic masses, including small pancreatic carcinoma, carcinoma in situ, or benign pancreatic duct stenosis), and group C (intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, IPMN). There were 41, 66, and 119 patients, with malignancy diagnosed in 29, 14, and 22 patients, in groups A, B, and C, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 69%, 100%, 100%, 57%, and 78% in group A; 79%, 98%, 92%, 94%, and 94% in group B; and 27%, 87%, 32%, 84%, and 76% in group C, respectively. PEP was observed in three (7.3%), three (4.5%), and fifteen (13%) patients in group A, B, and C, respectively (p = 0.20). SPACE is useful and safe in patients with suspicious small pancreatic carcinoma. However, it has limited efficacy and might not be recommended in patients with IPMN because of the high frequency of PEP.