Outcomes of endoscopic biliary drainage in pancreatic cancer patients with an indwelling gastroduodenal stent: a multicenter cohort study in West Japan.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Gastroduodenal and biliary obstruction may occur synchronously or asynchronously in advanced pancreatic cancer, and endoscopic double stent placement may be required. EUS-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) often is performed after unsuccessful placement of an endoscopic transpapillary stent (ETS), and EUS-BD may be beneficial in double stent placement. This retrospective multicenter cohort study compared the outcomes of ETS placement and EUS-BD in patients with an indwelling gastroduodenal stent (GDS).

METHODS: We recorded the clinical outcomes of patients at 5 tertiary-care medical centers who required biliary drainage after GDS placement between March 2009 and March 2014.

RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients were included in this study. Patients' mean age was 68.5 years; 23 (59.0%) were men. The GDS overlay the papilla in 23 patients (59.0%). The overall technical success rate was significantly higher with EUS-BD (95.2%) than with ETS placement (56.0%; P < .01). Furthermore, the technical success rate was significantly higher with EUS-BD (93.3%) than with ETS placement (22.2%; P < .01) when the GDS overlies the papilla. The overall clinical success rate of EUS-BD also was significantly higher than for ETS placement (90.5% vs 52.0%, respectively; P = .01), and there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events (ETS, 32.0% vs EUS-BD, 42.9%; P = .65).

CONCLUSION: Endoscopic double stent placement with EUS-BD is technically and clinically superior to ETS placement in patients with an indwelling GDS. EUS-BD should be considered the first-line treatment option for patients with an indwelling GDS that overlies the papilla. ETS placement remains a reasonable alternative when the papilla is not covered by the GDS.