Long-term follow-up after endoscopic management of retained and recurrent common duct stones
Kullman, E.; Borch, K.; Liedberg, G.
Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica 155(8): 395-399
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5482 PMID: 2596247 Document Number: 334282
Endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) was attempted on 128 patients because of retained or recurrent common bile duct stones. The duct was cleared in 118 cases (92%). Early complications arose after 27 (16.5%) of 164 sphincterotomies, with haemorrhage most common. Emergency laparotomy was performed in four cases. There were four deaths within a month of EST, two of them directly attributable to EST. In seven of the 118 patients with successful EST late complications (stenosis and/or recurrent stone) appeared during a median follow-up of 57 (range 24-101) months (after less than 2 years in 6 cases). Restenosis and new stones could usually be endoscopically treated. Ascending cholangitis was not a problem, provided that the bile flow was unobstructed. EST is relatively safe, and must now be considered the procedure of choice for postcholecystectomy choledocholithiasis especially in elderly or high-risk patients. EST in young, fit patients is more controversial, and requires further detailed longitudinal analyses.