Long-term results of endoscopic stent in the management of blunt major pancreatic duct injury

Background Pancreatic stents can be used to treat a variety of acute and chronic pancreatic lesions. Sporadic successful trials in trauma patients have been reported. To our knowledge, however, a series with long-term follow-up has not previously been reported. We treated six patients in a 6-year period and report the long-term results. Methods From February 1999 to February 2005, six blunt-trauma patients with major pancreatic duct disruption were treated with pancreatic duct stent at a single trauma center. Assessment of injury severity and diagnosis were based on abdominal computed tomography (CT) and proved by endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP), with chart review used to establish mechanism of injury, timing of ERP, and stent placement, as well as the long-term outcome. Results Three of the six injuries were classified AAST grade III and three were grade IV; the interval to ERP with stent placement ranged from 8 hours to 22 days after the injury. One patient developed sepsis and died. One patient’s stent could be removed early (52 days post-stenting) with mild ductal stricture, whereas the other four were complicated by severe ductal stricture that required repeated and prolonged stenting treatment. Removal of the stents was only possible in three of these four cases (at 12, 19, and 39 months, respectively), with stent dislodgment in the pancreatic duct occurring in another. Conclusions Stent therapy may avoid surgery in the acute trauma stage, and may be preserved as another choice for acute grade IV pancreatic injury. However, variant outcome and long-term ductal stricture reveal that the role of pancreatic duct stent is uncertain and may not be suitable for acute grade III pancreatic injury. However, it needs more clinical data to define the value in the acute blunt pancreatic duct injury.