Biliary Stenting as an Altermative to Endoscopic Nasobiliary Drainage in Patients with Acute Calculous Suppurative Cholangitis

Park, Jong Jae; Kim, Sun Suk; Kang, Dong Hoon; Park, Hyun Chul

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Acute calculous suppurative cholangitis(ACSC) is the most severe complication of bile duct stone(s) and carries 100% mortality if left untreated, and emergent decompression is a life-saving procedure. Endoscopic therapy such as endoscopic sphincterotomy(EST) or endoscopic nasobiliary drainage(ENBD) are well-mtablished treatment of choice instead of emergent surgieal or percutaneous drainages which have a high mortality or morbity, respectively. However, EST and subsequent stone removal is operator-dependent, time consuming, associated with complication rate of 6~12%, and may be inadequeate in many critically ill patients. Recently, endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage(ERBD) is suggested to be as effective in temporary biliary drainage for retained common duct stone and acute cholangitis as ENBD is, and preferred to ENBD in some reports, because ENBD can be pulled out occasionally by confused patient, more time consuming, unpleasant, a hindrance for the patient, and does not seem to be any more effective than ERBD. So, we performed this study to evaluate the role of ERBD in patient with ACSC.
METHODS
In Gil Hospital from March 1995 to April 1997, 35 patients were diagnosed as ACSC among the 289 patients with common bile duct stone(s). Of those with ACSC, "the emergent group" were 19 patients with common bile duct stone(s) in which polyethylene biliary stent was placed with the proximal end above the stone and the distal end in the duodenum within 1 days after admission, and "the delayed group" were 9 patients with common bile duct(CBD) stone(s) in which biliary stenting was delayed for 1 days or longer after admission. In both groups, diagnosis rate according to the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP) timing, clinical manifestations at admission, clinical and laboratory effectiveness of ERBD, and mortalities were analyzed and compared by the unpaired t-test.
RESULTS
1. The mean ages and male to female ratio in the emergent group were 65.1, 11:8, respectively and 61.4, 5:4 in the delayed group. On admission, hypotension and confused mentality were more frequent in the emergent group than in the delayed group, but there were no difference in the frequency of medical disease, cholecystectomy history between the two groups. 2. In laboratory findings, anemia, leukocytosis, and thrombocytopenia were more severe in the emergent group than in the delayed group, but there were no difference in the liver function test between the two groups. 3. The diagnosis rate of ACSC according to the ERCP timing was 90.9% by the emergent ERCP, whereas 1.9% by delayed ERCP, and among the 33 procedures of emergent ERCPs, 5 ERCPs were performed without aid of fluoroscopy. 4. In endoscopic findings of papilla, the incidence of gross pus, impacted stone, choledochoduodenal fistula, and papillary hyperemia was 100%, 53.6%, 46.4%, and 21.4%, respectively. In ERCP findings, single CBD stone was most common(53.6%), followed by multiple CBD stone(46.4%), IHD stone(s)(21.4%), and GB stone(14.2%). There were no differences in endoscopic and ERCP findings between the two groups. 5. After ERBD, abdominal pain and fever, and the level of total bilirubin and GOT were subsided or normalized more rapidly in the emergent group than in the delayed group, but there were no differences in the duration of hypotension and the level of GPT, ALP, and creatinine between the two groups. 6. The success rate of ERBD were 100% in the emergent group and 77.8% in the delayed group, so overal l success rate was 92.3%. After ERBD, the effectiveness determined by clinical and laboratory findings were 94.7% in the emergent group and 100% in the delayed group, so overall effectiveness was 96.2%. 7. Definite treatment consisted of endoscopic management in 23 patients(82.1%), elective operation for gallbladder or IHD stone(s) in 3(10.7%) after endoscopic removal of CBD stone(s), permanent biliary stenting due to the patient's refusal of further endoscopic or surgical management after recovery from sepsis in 3 patients(10.7%), and urgent operation in 1 patient(3.6%) in the emergent group. One patient in the delayed group died of sepsis in spite of successful biliary drainage, so overall mortality rate was 3.6%.
CONCLUSIONS
ERBD is an effective alternative method of decompressing the bile duct in patient with ACSC due to CBD stone(s), and high index of suspicion of the diagnosis is necessary because failure of diagnosis can result in delaye ddrainage and may be associated corresponding increase in mortality.