The role of endoscopic ultrasonography in endoscopic debridement of walled-off pancreatic necrosis--A single center experience.

BACKGROUND: In recent years the significance of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has increased. In our center we have also performed EUS-guided cystostomy since 2011. Earlier we had performed this procedure without EUS. Introduction of EUS in our hospital has inspired us to perform a retrospective analysis of the influence of EUS use on the risk of complications and the effectiveness of endoscopic treatment of patients with WOPN.

METHODS: Between years 2001 and 2013 176 patients with symptomatic WOPN underwent endoscopic treatment in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of Medical University of Gdańsk. The results and complications of treatment in relation to the use of EUS during drainage/debridement were compared retrospectively.

RESULTS: 64 patients underwent EUS-guided drainage/debridement of WOPN (group 1). In the case of 112 patients endoscopic drainage/debridement was performed without EUS control (group 2). In group 1 therapeutic success was achieved in 60/64 (93.75%) patients in comparison to 104/112 (92.9%) patients in group 2 (P = 0.870). The mean duration of drainage/debridement in both groups was 25 days - 4-173 days in group 1 and 4-112 days in group 2 (P = 0.519). The complications of endotherapy occurred in 9/64 (14.06%) patients from group 1 in comparison to 29/112 (25.9%) patients from group 2 (P = 0.047).

CONCLUSIONS: In our study the use of EUS during endoscopic drainage/debridement of WOPN significantly reduced the number of procedure-related complications, mainly gastrointestinal bleeding. However, it had no influence on the duration of treatment or the effectiveness of therapy.