Treatment of biliary obstruction in selected patients by endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS)-guided transluminal biliary drainage.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)-guided implantation of a biliary endoprosthesis or stent is the gold standard treatment for biliary obstructions. When the papilla cannot be traversed because there is pyloric or duodenal stenosis, or the catheter cannot be introduced, or because of previous gastrointestinal surgery (Billroth II gastric resection, Whipple procedure, gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction), the alternative treatment is considered to be percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and drainage (PTCD). The aim of the study was to investigate the further alternative of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided transgastric or transjejunal biliary drainage where PTCD failed or was declined, and particularly, the feasibility and outcome of this option. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Over 3 years all appropriate consecutive patients (as defined above) were enrolled in this prospective, observational, single-center, case series study, and patient and intervention data were recorded. Feasibility was characterized by success rate (regression of cholestasis), and outcomes by complication rate, mortality, and follow-up findings. RESULTS: Between November 2002 and December 2005, eight patients (in 10 interventions) underwent this new biliary drainage procedure. The routes were transesophageal (n = 1), transgastric (n = 4), and transjejunal (n = 3, including a rendezvous technique with ERCP [n = 1]). The indications were cholestasis, arising from recurrent tumor growth (n = 5, 62.5%), that included gastric carcinoma after previous gastrectomy (n = 4) and a periampullary carcinoma after previous Whipple procedure (n = 1); arising from Klatskin tumor (n = 2, 25%); and from benign stenosis of a hepaticojejunostomy (n = 1, 12.5%). Five patients (62.5%) received a metal stent, and three (37.5%) had a plastic prosthesis (8.5-Fr double-pigtail). The technical success rate was 90% (9/10) and the clinical success rate was 88.9% (8/9). There was only one case of cholangitis (12.5%) and slight postinterventional pain, but no severe complications such as bleeding or perforation, and no mortality. During follow-up (range 4 weeks to 3 years) re-interventions were needed in two patients (20%) because of increasing cholestasis; these resulted in technical success and clinical improvement. CONCLUSION: EUS-guided transgastric or transjejunal biliary drainage is a reasonable, feasible and encouraging treatment option in selected patients as indicated, with a low peri-interventional risk. It broadens the therapeutic spectrum but still needs further evaluation and follow-up investigation.

Isolated vasculitis of the stomach: a novel or rare disease with a difficult differential diagnosis.

In up to 80 % of patients with vasculitis, signs of the disease are also seen in the gastrointestinal tract. However, no cases of exclusively gastric vasculitis have previously been reported. We report here the case of a 45-year-old woman with upper abdominal discomfort (no arthropathy), with gastroscopic and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) findings that mimicked scirrhous gastric carcinoma. Gastroscopy revealed giant gastric folds and a suspicious antral ulcer (with histological findings suggesting chronic active pangastritis). EUS showed a concentric, thickened gastric wall (8 mm) with "pseudolamellation" and more than five enlarged lymph nodes in the paragastric region (lesser curvature). On the basis of suspected scirrhous gastric carcinoma, the patient underwent a four-fifths gastric resection of the altered parts of the gastric tissue. The postoperative course was uneventful. Histological examination of the specimen revealed severe obliterative panvasculitis of the stomach. During a 22-month follow-up period, no signs or symptoms of systemic primary or secondary vasculitis were found in the patient's medical history, symptoms, laboratory parameters, or imaging. This case shows for the first time that a specific gastric panvasculitis can occur, either as a preliminary stage of the condition or as a distinct manifestation of vasculitis associated with the stomach alone. Gastric resection appears to be indicated in patients with isolated obliterative gastric vasculitis, since it avoids the side effects of long-term immunosuppressive therapy and provides prognostic information that takes account of the differential diagnosis of scirrhous gastric carcinoma.

Endoscopic ultrasound-assisted rendezvous maneuver to achieve pancreatic duct drainage in obstructive chronic pancreatitis.

Patients with mechanical obstruction of the pancreatic duct, which can be caused by chronic pancreatitis, suffer from recurrent attacks of pain and inflammation of the pancreas. We report a novel approach using an endoscopic ultrasound- (EUS-) assisted rendezvous technique, which allows drainage of the pancreatic duct in patients in whom primary management by transpapillary drainage during an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedure has failed. Transgastric puncture of the pancreatic duct was performed using a 19-gauge needle under EUS guidance, and a 0.035-inch guide wire was introduced into the duct and advanced through the papilla. This wire was pulled into the duodenum using a side-viewing duodenoscope. A papillotomy was performed using the standard technique and a plastic prosthesis was introduced. The patient tolerated the intervention well and was discharged with no further complaints. EUS-assisted drainage of the pancreatic duct using a rendezvous technique is an elegant and feasible minimally invasive endoscopic treatment for symptomatic patients with chronic pancreatitis, in whom transpapillary introduction of a catheter is not possible.

[Therapeutic strategy of transgastral stenting in retrogastral abscesses]. / Therapiestrategie der transgastralen Dränage bei retrogastralen Abszedierungen.

We report on two patients with postinterventional retrogastric abscesses, one as a postoperative complication after partial pancreatectomy, one as a complication of biliary pancreatitis. In both cases, the abscess cavity could be completely drained by EUS-guided endoscopic application of a short "Amsterdam" stent, length 4 cm, 11.5 Fr. The stents could be removed by endoscopy after an interval of several weeks. In suitable cases EUS-guided endoscopic transgastral stenting appears to be the therapy of choice for retrogastral abscesses.