title: Benign biliary strictures refractory to standard bilioplasty treated using polydoxanone biodegradable biliary stents: retrospective multicentric data analysis on 107 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess mid-term outcome of biodegradable biliary stents (BBSs) to treat benign biliary strictures refractory to standard bilioplasty.
  
  
  METHODS
  Institutional review board approval was obtained and patient consent was waived. 107 patients (61 males, 46 females, mean age 59 ± 16 years), were treated. Technical success and complications were recorded. Ninety-seven patients (55 males, 42 females, aged 57 ± 17 years) were considered for follow-up analysis (mean follow-up 23 ± 12 months). Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U tests were used and a Kaplan-Meier curve was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The procedure was always feasible. In 2/107 cases (2 %), stent migration occurred (technical success 98 %). 4/107 patients (4 %) experienced mild haemobilia. No major complications occurred. In 19/97 patients (18 %), stricture recurrence occurred. In this group, higher rate of subsequent cholangitis (84.2 % vs. 12.8 %, p = 0.001) and biliary stones (26.3 % vs. 2.5 %, p = 0.003) was noted. Estimated mean time to stricture recurrence was 38 months (95 % C.I 34-42 months). Estimated stricture recurrence rate at 1, 2, and 3 years was respectively 7.2 %, 26.4 %, and 29.4 %.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Percutaneous placement of a BBS is a feasible and safe strategy to treat benign biliary strictures refractory to standard bilioplasty, with promising results in the mid-term period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • Percutaneous placement of a BBS is 100 % feasible. • The procedure appears free from major complications, with few minor complications. • BBSs offer promising results in the mid-term period. • With a BBS, external catheter/drainage can be removed early. • BBSs represent a new option in treating benign biliary stenosis.
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Radiologia, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Piazza Malan 2, 20097, San Donato Milanese, Milano, Italy. vanni.mauri@gmail.com.|Dipartimento di di Immagini e Scienze Radiologiche, Divisione di Radiologia Interventistica, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milano, Italy. vanni.mauri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mauri
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Michelozzi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Ospedale San Paolo, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Melchiorre
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Radiologia Oncologica e Interventistica, IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Poretti
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Radiologia Oncologica e Interventistica, IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pedicini
authors.affiliation: S.S. Gastroenterologia Diagnostica e Interventistica, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salvetti
authors.affiliation: Unit of Interventional Radiology, UDIAT Hospital Universitario Parc Tauli, Sabadell, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Criado
authors.affiliation: Unit of Interventional Radiology, UDIAT Hospital Universitario Parc Tauli, Sabadell, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Falcò Fages
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Cirugia Minimamente Invasiva Guiada por Imagen, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: De Gregorio
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Cirugia Minimamente Invasiva Guiada por Imagen, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laborda
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Radiologia, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Piazza Malan 2, 20097, San Donato Milanese, Milano, Italy.|Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sonfienza
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Ospedale San Paolo, Milano, Italy.|Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianpaolo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cornalba
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Radiologia-Radilogia Interventistica, Fondazione Poliambulanza-Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monfardini
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital Brno and Medical Faculty, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Panek
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital Brno and Medical Faculty, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Andrasina
authors.affiliation: Gastrointestinal and HPB Surgery Hospital de Clinicas University of Buenos Aires, DAICIM Foundation, Arenales 1640, 1 piso, Buenos Aires, Argentina. marianoegimenez@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gimenez
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D001659:Biliary Tract; D001660:Biliary Tract Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Biliary stricture; Bioabsorbable biliary stent; Percutaneous transhepatic bilioplasty; Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography