Surgical complications of endoscopic sphincterotomy
Mustard, R.; Mackenzie, R.; Jamieson, C.; Haber, G.B.
Canadian Journal of Surgery. Journal Canadien de Chirurgie 27(3): 215-217
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0008-428X PMID: 6722668 Document Number: 222763
Endoscopic sphincterotomy (papillotomy) was performed in 289 patients for choledocholithiasis (250, of whom 223 had undergone cholecystectomy previously), papillary stenosis or spasm (32) and ampullary neoplasm (7). The complications encountered in 39 patients were hemorrhage (15 patients), perforation (4), hemorrhage and perforation (1), cholangitis (5), pancreatitis (11), impaction (1) and others (2). Laparotomy was required in seven of these patients for hemorrhage (two), perforation (two), hemorrhage and perforation (one), pancreatitis (one) and impaction (one). Bleeding required duodenotomy with an extension of the sphincterotomy incision to control hemorrhage, and a formal sutured sphincteroplasty. Perforation occurred at the junction of the distal bile duct and duodenum and was managed by mobilization of the duodenum, with T-tube drainage through the perforation, and sutured closure. A pancreatic abscess following pancreatitis required surgical drainage. An impacted Dormia basket with entrapped stone in the bile duct required duodenotomy for its removal. There was a high risk of perforation in those patients who did not have choledocholithiasis or who had had a previous Billroth II gastrectomy. There were two deaths but the overall complication rate of 2.4% is considered low, because many of the patients were elderly or debilitated.