The effect of endoscopic sphincterotomy on acute and chronic complications of biliary endoprostheses.
BACKGROUND
Endoscopically placed biliary stents have become routine therapy for bile duct obstruction and bile leaks. Controversy exists regarding the use of biliary sphincterotomy to facilitate placement of 10F plastic stents.


METHODS
We retrospectively studied the effect of sphincterotomy on acute and chronic complications of 10F stent therapy. Data for acute complications, 30-day mortality and stent migration were obtained for 130 patients undergoing placement of a single 10F plastic biliary stent. For 109 patients in whom prolonged stent therapy was undertaken, the occurrence of and time to stent dysfunction were also analyzed. Sphincterotomy was performed in 48 cases (36.9%) based on physician preference.


RESULTS
There were no failures in stent placement. The incidence of acute complications was higher in patients undergoing sphincterotomy (8.3% vs. 1.2%, p = 0.04). Stent migration was more common in the no sphincterotomy group versus the sphincterotomy group (8.5% vs. 0, p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Sphincterotomy is not necessary for placement of 10F plastic stents and increases acute procedural morbidity. Interestingly, a higher incidence of stent migration was seen in patients who did not undergo biliary sphincterotomy.
Margulies
C
C
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Siqueira
E S
ES
Silverman
W B
WB
Lin
X S
XS
Martin
J A
JA
Rabinovitz
M
M
Slivka
A
A
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde / Q000379:methods; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016717:Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015607:Stents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome