TY - JOUR
T1 - Endoscopic treatment of anastomotic biliary strictures after living donor liver transplantation
T2 - Outcomes after maximal stent therapy
AU - Hsieh, Ting Hui
AU - Mekeel, Kristin L.
AU - Crowell, Michael D.
AU - Nguyen, Cuong C.
AU - Das, Ananya
AU - Aqel, Bashar A.
AU - Carey, Elizabeth J.
AU - Byrne, Thomas J.
AU - Vargas, Hugo E.
AU - Douglas, David D.
AU - Mulligan, David C.
AU - Harrison, M. Edwyn
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - Background: Living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has emerged as a viable strategy in an era of organ shortage. However, biliary strictures are a common complication of LDLT, and these strictures frequently require surgical revision after unsuccessful endoscopic therapy. The optimal endoscopic treatment for anastomotic biliary strictures (ABSs) after LDLT is undefined. Objective: To determine the outcome of an aggressive endoscopic approach to ABSs after LDLT that uses endoscopic dilation followed by maximal stent placement. Design: A retrospective study. Setting: A tertiary-care academic medical center. Patients: Forty-one patients with a diagnosis of ABS. Interventions: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography with balloon dilation and maximal stenting. Main Outcome Measurements: Stricture resolution, stricture recurrence, and complication rates. Results: Of 110 LDLTs completed, a biliary stricture developed after transplantation in 41 (37.3%), which included 38 patients with duct-to-duct anastomosis. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up time is 74.2 (2.5-120.8) months. Among them, 23 (60.5%) were male, and 20 (52.6%) had bile leakage associated with ABSs. The median time (IQR) to the development of an ABS after LDLT was 2.1 (1.2-4.1) months. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was attempted as initial therapy in all patients: 32 were managed entirely by endoscopic therapy, and 6 required initial percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) to cross the biliary stricture, with endoscopic therapy performed thereafter. A median (IQR) of 4.0 (3.0-5.3) endoscopic interventions and 7.0 (4.0-10.3) stents were required to resolve the stricture. The time from the first intervention to stricture resolution was 5.3 (range 3.8-8.9) months. Biochemical markers including aspartate transaminase (76 vs 39 U/L, P =.001), alanine transaminase (127.5 vs 45.5 U/L, P <.001), alkaline phosphatase (590 vs 260 IU/L, P <.001), and total bilirubin (2.57 vs 1.73 mg/dL, P =.017) significantly improved after intervention. Recurrent stricture was observed after initial treatment in 8 (21%) patients. All recurrences were successfully re-treated endoscopically. All patients have been managed without surgical revision or retransplantation, resulting in 100% success by an intention-to-treat analysis. Limitations: Retrospective study, small sample size. Conclusions: In this series, aggressive endoscopy-based treatment with maximal stent placement strategy allows 100% resolution of all duct-to-duct ABSs after LDLT without the need for surgical intervention or retransplantation.
AB - Background: Living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has emerged as a viable strategy in an era of organ shortage. However, biliary strictures are a common complication of LDLT, and these strictures frequently require surgical revision after unsuccessful endoscopic therapy. The optimal endoscopic treatment for anastomotic biliary strictures (ABSs) after LDLT is undefined. Objective: To determine the outcome of an aggressive endoscopic approach to ABSs after LDLT that uses endoscopic dilation followed by maximal stent placement. Design: A retrospective study. Setting: A tertiary-care academic medical center. Patients: Forty-one patients with a diagnosis of ABS. Interventions: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography with balloon dilation and maximal stenting. Main Outcome Measurements: Stricture resolution, stricture recurrence, and complication rates. Results: Of 110 LDLTs completed, a biliary stricture developed after transplantation in 41 (37.3%), which included 38 patients with duct-to-duct anastomosis. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up time is 74.2 (2.5-120.8) months. Among them, 23 (60.5%) were male, and 20 (52.6%) had bile leakage associated with ABSs. The median time (IQR) to the development of an ABS after LDLT was 2.1 (1.2-4.1) months. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was attempted as initial therapy in all patients: 32 were managed entirely by endoscopic therapy, and 6 required initial percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) to cross the biliary stricture, with endoscopic therapy performed thereafter. A median (IQR) of 4.0 (3.0-5.3) endoscopic interventions and 7.0 (4.0-10.3) stents were required to resolve the stricture. The time from the first intervention to stricture resolution was 5.3 (range 3.8-8.9) months. Biochemical markers including aspartate transaminase (76 vs 39 U/L, P =.001), alanine transaminase (127.5 vs 45.5 U/L, P <.001), alkaline phosphatase (590 vs 260 IU/L, P <.001), and total bilirubin (2.57 vs 1.73 mg/dL, P =.017) significantly improved after intervention. Recurrent stricture was observed after initial treatment in 8 (21%) patients. All recurrences were successfully re-treated endoscopically. All patients have been managed without surgical revision or retransplantation, resulting in 100% success by an intention-to-treat analysis. Limitations: Retrospective study, small sample size. Conclusions: In this series, aggressive endoscopy-based treatment with maximal stent placement strategy allows 100% resolution of all duct-to-duct ABSs after LDLT without the need for surgical intervention or retransplantation.
KW - ABS
KW - DDLT
KW - ERC
KW - HIDA
KW - IQR
KW - LDLT
KW - PTC
KW - anastomotic biliary stricture
KW - deceased donor liver transplantation
KW - endoscopic retrograde cholangiography
KW - hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid
KW - interquartile range
KW - living donor liver transplantation
KW - percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography
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U2 - 10.1016/j.gie.2012.08.034
DO - 10.1016/j.gie.2012.08.034
M3 - Article
C2 - 23062758
AN - SCOPUS:84871325940
SN - 0016-5107
VL - 77
SP - 47
EP - 54
JO - Gastrointestinal endoscopy
JF - Gastrointestinal endoscopy
IS - 1
ER -