Balloon enteroscopy-assisted endoscopic retrograde cholangiography and rendezvous procedures in patients with altered gastrointestinal anatomy.

BACKGROUND: Standard endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) frequently fails to treat biliary obstruction in patients with altered gastrointestinal anatomy. Balloon enteroscopy-assisted ERC (BE-ERC) and combined percutaneous transhepatic endoscopic rendezvous procedures (PTE-RVs) may offer effective rescue approaches. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of BE-ERC and PTE-RV for the treatment of biliary obstruction in patients with altered gastrointestinal anatomy. METHODS: In this observational study, all patients with altered gastrointestinal anatomy underwent BE-ERC between 2003 and 2016 at a tertiary referral center. In case of procedural failure, a combined PTE-RV was performed in selected cases. Endpoints included the success and safety of the procedures. RESULTS: A total of 180 BE-ERC performed in 106 patients with altered gastrointestinal anatomy were included. Of the procedures, 76.7% were performed due to benign and 23.3% due to malignant biliary obstruction. BE-ERC was successful in 53% (96/180) of cases. In case of failure, in 23/32 cases a combined PTE-RV was successfully performed, improving the overall success rate of BE-ERC, including PTE-RV, to 66% (119/180). Benign biliary obstruction and repeated procedures were positive predictors of successful BE-ERC (odds ratio 6.8 (95% CI 2.7-17.0), p < .001 and odds ratio 4.1 (2.1-8.2), p < .001). Complications were significantly more frequent in combined PTE-RVs than in BE-ERC procedures alone (34.4% vs. 7.4%; p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: BE-ERC is effective and safe for the endoscopic management of patients with altered gastrointestinal anatomy and percutaneous transhepatic rendezvous procedures can substantially increase success rates in selected cases.

Percutaneous-transhepatic-endoscopic rendezvous procedures are effective and safe in patients with refractory bile duct obstruction.

Background: Percutaneous-transhepatic-endoscopic rendezvous procedures (PTE-RVs) are rescue approaches used to facilitate biliary drainage. Objective: The objective of this article is to evaluate the safety and the technical success of PTE-RVs in comparison with those of percutaneous transhepatic cholangiographies (PTCs). Methods: Percutaneous procedures performed over a 10-year period were retrospectively analyzed in a single-center cohort. Examinations were performed because of a previous or expected failure of standard endoscopic methods including endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) or balloon-assisted ERC to achieve biliary access. Results: In total, 553 percutaneous procedures including 163 PTE-RVs and 390 PTCs were performed. Overall, 71.3% of the patients suffered from malignant disease with pancreas-carcinoma (32.8%) and cholangio-carcinoma (19.0%) as the most frequent, while 28.7% of the patients suffered from benign disease. Many patients had a postoperative change in bowel anatomy (50.8%).PTC had a higher technical success rate (89.7%); however, the technical success rate of PTE-RVs was still high (80.4%; p < 0.003). Overall complications occurred in 23.5% of all procedures. Significantly fewer complications occurred after performing PTE-RVs than after PTCs (16.6% vs 26.4%; p = 0.037). Conclusion: Beside a high technical efficacy of PTE-RVs, significantly fewer complications occur following PTE-RVs than following PTCs; thus, PTE-RV should be preferred over PTC alone in selected patients.