Incision Improves Success and Safety for Difficult Biliary Access Compared With Wire- or Stent-Guided Entry
Bret T. Petersen, MD, MASGE, reviewing Facciorusso A, et al. Gastrointest Endosc 2021 Sep 16.
A variety of techniques have been described for achieving deep biliary cannulation, a necessary prelude to most endoscopic retrograde cholangiographic (ERCP) procedures. The rate of successful cannulation is commonly touted as a useful quality measure.
The authors of this study performed a network meta-analysis of 17 randomized studies comprised of 2015 patients to identify the relative efficacy of 5 adjunctive techniques: persistence with standard techniques (PSTs), needle-knife sphincterotomy (NKS), transpancreatic sphincterotomy (TPS), pancreatic guidewire-assisted cannulation, and pancreatic stent-assisted cannulation.
Despite the low quality of evidence among the studies, by GRADE criteria, the success of difficult biliary cannulation using TPS was superior to all other techniques, with NKS a close second. Post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) was lowest with NKS, and both NKS and TPS minimized PEP compared with PST or either technique with wire or stent assistance.
Note to readers: At the time we reviewed this paper, its publisher noted that it was not in final form and that subsequent changes might be made.
CITATION(S)
Facciorusso A, Ramai D, Gkolfakis P, et al. Comparative efficacy of different methods for difficult biliary cannulation in ERCP: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Gastrointest Endosc 2021 Sep 16. (Epub ahead of print) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gie.2021.09.010)