Cholecystitis after metallic stent placement in patients with malignant distal biliary obstruction.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cholecystitis after metallic stent (MS) placement is an issue requiring attention. From our experience, cholecystitis seemed to occur mainly in patients with tumor involvement to the cystic duct orifice. The aim of the present study was to identify risk factors for cholecystitis in patients treated with covered or uncovered MS. METHODS: We analyzed 246 patients who received MS placement (covered MS in 171 and uncovered in 75) between August 1997 and May 2005 for the treatment of unresectable distal malignant biliary obstruction. Causative diseases were as follows: pancreatic cancer in 162, papillary cancer in 10, bile duct cancer in 41, and metastatic nodes in 33 patients. Tumor involvement to orifice of the cystic duct (OCD) was diagnosed based on cholangiography and intraductal ultrasonography. RESULTS: Cholecystitis after MS placement was found in 13 patients (5.3%). There was no significant difference in the incidence of cholecystitis between covered (5.8%) and uncovered (4.0%) MS. By univariate analysis, tumor involvement of the OCD, MS placed above the papilla, and stricture located at midportion were associated significantly with cholecystitis. By multivariate analysis, only tumor involvement of the OCD was a risk factor, with an odds ratio of 47.206 (95% confidence interval, 5.84-381.60). CONCLUSIONS: Cholecystitis after MS placement is associated with tumor involvement to the orifice of the cystic duct, regardless of the type of stent.     

Duodenal stenosis after endoscopic biliary metallic stent placement for malignant biliary stenosis

BACKGROUND: Some patients who undergo endoscopic insertion of biliary metallic stents for malignant biliary stenosis later develop symptomatic duodenal stenosis due to tumor invasion. METHODS: We compared the development of symptomatic duodenal stenosis in patients who had undergone endoscopic biliary metallic stent insertion (metallic stent group) with that in patients who had undergone either endoscopic biliary drainage or percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage with a plastic stent (nonmetallic stent group). Fourteen patients in the metallic stent group were matched with 14 patients in a nonmetallic stent group. All patients had a Karnofsky performance status score of greater than 90% and were clinical stage IV when they underwent biliary decompression. RESULTS: Although there was no difference in survival time between the 2 groups, 5 of 14 patients in the metallic stent group developed symptomatic duodenal stenosis due to tumor invasion during the observation period whereas this occurred in only 1 of 14 patients in the nonmetallic stent group. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicates that the type of stent (p = 0.022) and survival time (p = 0.002) are 2 independent prognostic factors for the development of symptomatic duodenal stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: Patients treated with endoscopic biliary metallic stent insertion are prone to develop symptomatic duodenal stenosis due to tumor invasion compared with those treated with either endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage or percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage with a plastic stent.     

Spontaneous cutaneous biliary fistula: a rare complication of cholangiocarcinoma

A rare case of intrahepatic-cutaneous biliary fistula resulted from obstruction of the biliary tree by cholangiocarcinoma in the hilar area. The diagnosis was made clinically by the presence of a constant pus discharge through the fistula opening and confirmed by sonogram, computed tomogram (CT), and surgery. To our knowledge, there have been no previous reports of such a fistula as the presenting symptom of cholangiocarcinoma.     

Spontaneous external biliary fistula: a rare complication of cholangiocarcinoma

A 68-year-old woman presented with yellowish discharge oozing from a fistula opening in the upper epigastric area that had persisted for one month prior to her visit. The patient had undergone a left lateral segmentectomy of the liver ten years prior for treatment of intrahepatic duct (IHD) stones. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan showed focal stricture and proximal dilatation of remnant IHD and a 1 cm-sized rim-enhancing lesion located under the surgical bed of the abdominal wall surrounding the dilated remnant IHD. Despite conservative management including nasobiliary drainage, no further improvement was anticipated. Partial hepatectomy and fistulectomy were performed for pathologic diagnosis and treatment of the enhancing lesion. Histopathology revealed adenocarcinoma. In this case, cholangiocarcinoma might have arisen in association with IHD stones and then developed a choledocho-cutaneous fistula as a clinical manifestation.     

Bronchopleurobiliary fistula. A complication of intrahepatic biliary stent migration

We describe the management of bronchopleurobiliary fistula in a 56-year-old woman who underwent a (L) mastectomy with postoperative radio- and chemotherapy for advanced breast carcinoma and required insertion of inhabiliary Silastic stents for the relief of severe obstructive jaundice. During restaging of her carcinoma for further chemotherapy, she complained of dyspnea, right chest pain and productive cough with yellow sputum. Her chest x-ray film and thoraco-abdominal CT scan demonstrated right pleural effusion with a stent protruding through the right hemidiaphragm. The objective evidence of bile in the pleural aspirate with history of bile-stained sputum established the diagnosis of bronchopleurobiliary fistula resulting from biliary stent migration.     

A case of bilioduodenal fistula treated with a self-expandable metallic stent.

We report the case of a 72 year-old female patient who suffered from biliary fistulae. The biliobiliary and bilioduodenal fistulae appeared after an operation for biliary bleeding. Conventional therapy for biliary fistula would be the disconnection of the fistula by either conservative or operative treatment. In the present case, however, it was preferable to enlarge the fistula to drain bile juice into the duodenum, rather than to close the fistula because it would have been difficult to achieve a tight adhesion with this operation. The enlargement by a plastic tube stent failed to drain the bile juice into the duodenum, because the sludge made the tube stenotic. Therefore, a self-expandable metallic stent was applied in this case. An expandable stent was used because a large final caliber is necessary to prevent stenosis of the fistula by sludge and mucosal hyperplasia. After insertion of a self-expandable metallic stent by the percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage route, the patient has not suffered from cholestasis and cholangitis for the last 30 months. It can therefore be concluded that enlargement of the fistula by a self-expandable metallic stent is a convenient therapy for such biliointestinal fistulae.     

Closure of a persistent sphincterotomy-related duodenal perforation by placement of a covered self-expandable metallic biliary stent

Retroperitoneal duodenal perforation as a result of endoscopic biliary sphincterotomy is a rare complication, but it is associated with a relatively high mortality risk, if left untreated. Recently, several endoscopic techniques have been described to close a variety of perforations. In this case report, we describe the closure of a persistent sphincterotomy-related duodenal perforation by using a covered self-expandable metallic biliary (CEMB) stent. A 61-year-old Greek woman underwent an endoscopic retrog...