Advanced endoscopic imaging for biliary strictures: Review of current technologies

Conventional diagnostic techniques for indeterminate biliary strictures using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatoscopy based ductal brushings and biopsy alone remains insensitive with inconsistent yields. There are multiple technologies, both established and novel, including peroral cholangioscopy, endoscopic and intraductal ultrasound, probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy, and volumetric laser endomicroscopy with evolving data to support their use in the workup of indeterminate biliary strictures. Implementation of such technologies remains hindered by steep operator learning curves, device cost, and a dirth of comparative literature to support evidence based practice using one device over the other or adjunctively with the current gold standard of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatoscopy. In this review, we focus on the aforementioned modalities, their technical specifications and operator considerations, and the available literature for use in evaluating indeterminate biliary strictures.     

A case of eosinophilic cholangitis： Imaging findings of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, cholangioscopy, and intraductal ultrasonography

A 38-year-old woman was referred to our institution due to epigastralgia. She presented with obstructive jaundice and eosinophilia. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed diffuse narrowing from the distal common bile duct to the bifurcation of the hepatic ducts. An endoscopic plastic biliary stent was inserted; the specimen obtained from the common bile duct wall revealed dense infiltration by eosinophils. Treatment was started with prednisolone 60 mg daily. The patient＇s biliary stenosis and eosinophilia gradually improved. Eosinophilic infiltration in the lungs or stomach is relatively common, but it is rare in the common bile duct. Most of the reported cases of eosinophilic cholangitis presented with eosinophilia; our patient＇s eosinophil count was over 1000/mm^3. Since our patient had allergies to pollen and house dust, a relationship between the allergies and the eosinophilic cholangitis was suspected, but no cause was identified.     

Update of cholangioscopy and biliary strictures

Cholangioscopy remains another modality in the investigation of biliary strictures. At cholangioscopy, thetumour vessel sign is considered a specific sign formalignancy. Through its ability to not only visualisemucosa, but to take targeted biopsies, it has a greater accuracy, sensitivity and specificity for malignant strictures than endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography guided cytopathological acquisition. Cholangioscopy however, is time consuming and costly, requires greater technical expertise, a...     

Efficacy of SpyGlass~(TM)-directed biopsy compared to brush cytology in obtaining adequate tissue for diagnosis in patients with biliary strictures

AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic yield(inflammatory activity) and efficiency(size of the biopsy specimen) of SpyGlassTM-guided biopsy vs standard brush cytology in patients with and without primary sclerosing cholangitis(PSC).METHODS: At the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany, 35 consecutive patients with unclear biliarylesions(16 patients) or long-standing PSC(19 patients) were screened for the study. All patients underwent a physical examination, lab analyses, and abdominal ultrasound. Thirty-one patients with non-PSC strictures or with PSC were scheduled to undergo endoscopic retrograde cholangiography(ERC) and subsequent per-oral cholangioscopy(POC). Standard ERC was initially performed, and any lesions or strictures were localized. POC was performed later during the same session. The Boston Scientific SpyGlass SystemTM(Natick, MA, United States) was used for choledochoscopy. The biliary tree was visualized, and suspected lesions or strictures were biopsied, followed by brush cytology of the same area. The study endpoints(for both techniques) were the degree of inflammation, tissue specimen size, and the patient populations(PSC vs non-PSC). Inflammatory changes were divided into three categories: none, low activity, and high activity. The specimen quantity was rated as low, moderate, or sufficient.RESULTS: SpyGlassTM imaging and brush cytology with material retrieval were performed in 29 of 31(93.5%) patients(23 of the 29 patients were male). The median patient age was 45 years(min, 20 years; max, 76 years). Nineteen patients had known PSC, and 10 showed non-PSC strictures. No procedure-related complications were encountered. However, for both methods, tissues could only be retrieved from 29 pa-tients. In cases of inflammation of the biliary tract, the diagnostic yield of the SpyGlassTM-directed biopsies was greater than that using brush cytology. More tissue material was obtained for the biopsy method than for the brush cytology method(P = 0.021). The biopsies showed significantly more inflammatory characteristics and greater inflammatory activity compared to the cy-tological investigation(P = 0.014). The greater quantity of tissue samples proved useful for both PSC and non-PSC patients.CONCLUSION: SpyGlassTM imaging can be recom-mended for proper inflammatory diagnosis in PSC pa-tients. However, its value in diagnosing dysplasia wasnot addressed in this study and requires further investi-gation.     

腹腔镜联合胆道镜在重症急性胰腺炎继发胰腺脓肿中的应用

目的:探讨腹腔镜、胆道镜联合应用在重症急性胰腺炎继发胰腺脓肿中的临床应用价值.方法:回顾性分析我院2000-06/2011-06随机使用腹腔镜、胆道镜联合及开腹手术治疗重症急性胰腺炎继发胰腺脓肿的38例患者,包括一般资料、手术时间、术中出血量、术后肠道功能恢复时间、术后白细胞、肝功能变化、术后并发症、死亡率、住院时间、住院费用等.结果:腹腔镜、胆道镜联合治疗组和开腹组在患者组成、手术时间、住院时间、死亡率等方面无统计学差异,治疗组在术中失血量(108.2 mL±18.1 mLvs 137.4 mL±25.2 mL)、术后肠道恢复时间(26.8 h±9.7 h vs 31 h±10.1 h)、术后肝功能变化(碱性磷酸酶:76.7U/L±12.6 U/L vs 83.2 U/L±13.6 U/L;谷氨酰转肽酶计数:60.3 U/L±14.1 U/L vs 67.1 U/L±13.8 U/L)、术后并发症(19.0%vs 41.2%)、住院费用(49.3千元±0.9千元vs 43.2千元±0.6千元)上与对照组差异显著(P<0.05).结论:腹腔镜、胆道镜联合治疗重症急性胰腺炎继发胰腺脓肿安全可靠、更加合理,有一定临床意义,但其费用较高,手术时间及住院时间稍长,需加以改进.     

Endobiliary biopsy

The differential diagnosis between benign and malignant biliary strictures is challenging and requires a multidisciplinary approach with the use of serum biomarkers, imaging techniques, and several modalities of endoscopic or percutaneous tissue sampling. The diagnosis of biliary strictures consists of laboratory markers, and invasive and non-invasive imaging examinations such as computed tomography (CT), contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS). Nevertheless, invasive imaging modalities combined with tissue sampling are usually required to confirm the diagnosis of suspected malignant biliary strictures, while pathological diagnosis is mandatory to decide the optimal therapeutic strategy. Although EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy is currently the standard procedure for tissue sampling of solid pancreatic mass lesions, its diagnostic value in intraductal infiltrating type of cholangiocarcinoma remains limited. Moreover, the “endobiliary approach” using novel slim biopsy forceps, transpapillary and percutaneous cholangioscopy, and intraductal ultrasound-guided biopsy, is gaining ground on traditional endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography endobiliary forceps biopsy. This review focuses on the available endobiliary techniques currently used to perform biliary strictures biopsy, comparing the diagnostic performance of endoscopic and percutaneous approaches.