Nonoperative management of bile duct stones

A life-saving but inadequately discussed procedure: tube duodenostomy. Known and unknown aspects

OBJECTIVE

The most successful method of managing the difficult duodenum, including the stump leakage, has been the tube duodenostomy technique, but it has not gained wide acceptance and is rarely used. The purpose of this study is to describe the details of the procedure for indication, technical approach, and postoperative care.

METHODS

During the period from 1998 to 2006, a tube duodenostomy was performed in 31 patients for possible insecure duodenal stump closure during gastric resection, postoperative duodenal stump leakage, duodenal leak after primary closure of duodenum for perforation or injury, or anostomotic leak after choledochoduodenostomy. All of the tube duodenostomies were performed through the open end of the duodenum. We also inserted a T-tube into the common bile duct in 19 of 31 patients (61.2 %) with tube duodenostomy.

RESULTS

A tube duodenostomy was performed in the primary operation in 15 of 31 patients. None of those 15 patients required a second operation, and there were no leaks and no deaths. Among the larger group (31 patients), there was one (3.2 %) duodenal stump leak after tube duodenostomy, and it ceased spontaneously; one patient had a subhepatic collection after removal of the duodenostomy tube, and three patients had associated incisional infections. Two patients died; one after a myocardial infarction and the other from irreversible sepsis. The mean length of hospital stay was 26.9 days.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that tube duodenostomy is a simple, effective, and safe method to prevent rupture of an insecure duodenal stump or to treat the leakage from the duodenal stump or primary repair on the duodenum.

Balloon Sphincteroplasty and Transpapillary Elimination of Bile Duct Stones:10 Years' Experience

OBJECTIVE

The usual way for interventional radiology to treat stones in the bile duct involves their extraction with Dormia baskets. The technique of dilating the sphincter with a balloon and the transpapillary elimination of the stones has only sporadically been reported in the literature. In this article, we describe our experience with this technique.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Between 1992 and 2001, we used this technique on 100 patients between the ages of 17 and 93 years (mean age, 68 years). The minimum diameter of the stones varied between 4 and 22 mm (mean size, 11 mm), and in 46 patients, only a single stone was seen. The stones were located in the common bile duct, and in 11 patients, intrahepatic stones were also observed. The approach was performed through a percutaneous biliary drainage tract in 48 patients, following the surgical tract of the Kehr tube in 36 patients, through a surgical transcystic drainage catheter in 10 patients, and through a percutaneous cholecystostomy in six patients.

RESULTS

The procedure was successful in 95% of the patients. The morbidity rate was 5%, and the procedure did not produce mortality in any of the cases. Eighty-nine patients required one session, 10 patients required two sessions, and the remaining patient required five sessions. The mean period of hospitalization after the procedure was 5.5 days (range, 1-40 days).

CONCLUSION

Balloon sphincteroplasty and transpapillary elimination of bile duct stones is an effective and safe technique.

Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy for common bile duct stones

BACKGROUND

Successful extraction of common bile duct stones after endoscopic sphincterotomy may be achieved in 86-96 per cent of cases. However, some stones are too large to be removed in this manner. This study looks at the role of extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy to break up common bile duct stones as an adjunct to sphincterotomy in patients with stones greater than 10 mm in size.

METHODS

Twenty-seven patients with large (10-35 mm) common bile duct stones were treated with piezoelectric generated extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) following failed stone extraction after endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES). The stones were visualized ultrasonographically and a piezolith 2300 Wolf lithotripter used to administer the shockwaves.

RESULTS

Visualized stone fragmentation was reported in 20 of 48 sessions. Clearance of targeted stones was achieved in 18 of the 27 patients, but actual duct clearance was demonstrated in only 17 of the 27. There were few adverse effects and mortality was nil.

CONCLUSION

This study concludes that ESWL following failed ES is a useful additional treatment option for very large bile duct stones, but should only be used after surgical risk and past history of biliary disease have been carefully reviewed and found to contraindicate conventional surgical management. An algorithm of treatment options for common bile duct stones is presented.

Gallbladder function and recurrent stones of the biliary tract in patients after endoscopic sphincterotomy

BACKGROUND

Change in gallbladder function may occur in patients with an intact gallbladder after endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST). This study was designed to evaluate the factors influencing gallbladder filling after EST and the correlation between gallbladder function and stone recurrence.

METHODS

Sixty Chinese patients with symptomatic choledocholithiasis and an intact gallbladder received EST to clear the bile ducts. They were further investigated with sphincter of Oddi manometry (SOM), quantitative cholescintigraphy (QC), and long-term clinical follow-up.

RESULTS

Fifty-six of the 60 patients in the study group were confirmed to have a loss of sphincteric function by SOM. QC showed normal gallbladder filling in 35 of these patients and delayed or non-filling in 21 patients. A significantly higher incidence of normal gallbladder filling occurred in patients with juxtapapillary diverticulum than in those without (P < 0.02), but preexisting cholecystolithiasis had no effect on it. During the follow-up period (median, 32 months: range, 9-54 months) 10 of 56 patients developed recurrent choledocholithiasis. There was no correlation between the status of gallbladder filling, preexisting cholecystolithiasis, and recurrent stones, but 9 of the 10 patients with recurrent stones had a juxtapapillary diverticulum. Repeated endoscopic treatment was satisfactory in eight patients, and only two patients received cholecystectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

EST does not alter gallbladder function in most patients. Juxtapapillary diverticulum may facilitate gallbladder filling after EST, but it is also a possible factor for recurrent choledocholithiasis.

Gallstone ileus complicating endoscopic sphincterotomy

A case of gallstone ileus is described complicating an endoscopic sphincterotomy. This rare cause of small bowel obstruction should be considered following endoscopic treatment of very large bile-duct calculi.

Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is now the standard approach to gallbladder disease. While laparoscopic cholecystectomy offers many advantages over the conventional laparotomy procedure one of its drawbacks is that a synchronous common bile duct exploration, for so long a cornerstone of management of choledocholithiasis, is not yet widely practised laparoscopically. Endoscopic sphincterotomy or open surgery, with their attendant hazards and morbidity, remain the most common approaches. A flexible choledochoscope with an operating channel may in future facilitate laparoscopic management of choledocholithiasis but as yet this is not widely available. We report the removal of a common duct stone by dormia basket extraction through the cystic duct at laparoscopic cholecystectomy.