Minimally invasive approach (robotic and laparoscopic) to biliary-enteric fistula secondary to cholecystectomy bile duct injury

Spontaneous biliary-enteric fistula after laparoscopic cholecystectomy bile duct injury is an extremely rare entity. Y-en-Roux hepaticojejunostomy has been demonstrated to be an effective surgical technique to repair iatrogenic bile duct injuries. Seven consecutive patients underwent robotic-assisted (n = 5) and laparoscopic (n = 2) biliary-enteric fistula resection and bile duct repair at our hospital from January 2012 to May 2017. We reported our technique and described post-procedural outcomes. The mean age was 52.4 years, mostly females (n = 5). The mean operative time was 240 min for laparoscopic cases and 322 min for robotic surgery, and the mean estimated blood loss was 300 mL for laparoscopic and 204 mL for robotic cases. In both groups, oral feeding was resumed between day 2 or 3 and hospital length of stay was 4–8 days. Immediate postoperative outcomes were uneventful in all patients. With a median of 9 months of follow-up (3–52 months), no patients developed anastomosis-related complications. We observed in this series an adequate identification and dissection of the fistulous biliary-enteric tract, a safe closure of the fistulous orifice in the gastrointestinal tract and a successful bile duct repair, providing the benefits of minimally invasive surgery.