Endoscopic Gallbladder Stenting to Prevent Recurrent Cholecystitis in Deferred Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Trial

Endoscopic Gallbladder Drainage EUS LAMS vs. ERCP Trans-papillary Drainage

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

In this review, we discuss the role of endoscopic gallbladder drainage for acute cholecystitis in non-surgical candidates, describe technical aspects, clinical outcomes, and elaborate on considerations when determining which approach to adopt for a given patient.

RECENT FINDINGS

Cholecystectomy remains the criterion standard for management of acute cholecystitis in patients who can safely undergo surgery. For non-surgical candidates, percutaneous cholecystostomy (PTC-GBD) has been the traditional strategy to drain and decompress the gallbladder. Advances in endoscopy have further expanded the nonsurgical interventions and approaches to cholecystitis. Both endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage (ET-GBD) and endoscopic ultrasound guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD) have become acceptable alternatives to PTC-GBD, with growing literature supporting their efficacy, safety and improved patient quality of life when compared to a percutaneous approach. Choosing the appropriate endoscopic technique for gallbladder drainage should be tailored to each patient, keeping in view the specific clinical scenarios, endoscopist preference and following a multi-disciplinary approach.

Biliary stent insertion after stone clearance in patients awaiting cholecystectomy: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and study aims

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the standard treatment for patients with cholecystitis or gallbladder stones after common bile duct (CBD) clearance. According to the sequential strategy, cholecystectomy should be performed within 2 weeks after CDB clearance with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). However, in real-life experience, the average waiting time is 60 to 180 days. We aimed to evaluate the clinical rationale for prophylactic stent placement in CBD to prevent recurrent biliary events.

Patients and methods

This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed following a protocol designed a priori (PROSPERO: CRD42024564804; July 13, 2024). All published studies involving patients who had undergone ERCP for CBDs and who were awaiting cholecystectomy were included.

Results

At the end of the revision process, four full texts including 755 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) for symptom recurrence in patients awaiting cholecystectomy was 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.30-1.79; I 2 67%). The pooled OR for adverse event occurrence was 0.74 (95% CI 0.45-1.24) in the stent group. The post-ERCP pancreatitis and cholangitis risk were 0.76 (95% CI 0.25-2.34) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.31-2.67), respectively.

Conclusions

This meta-analysis showed no benefit for stent insertion after bile duct clearance in patients scheduled for delayed cholecystectomy. Further randomized controlled trials with bigger cohorts are needed to assess any benefit for this procedure, which in the meantime, cannot be recommended.

A retrospective comparative study of percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage versus endoscopic gallbladder stenting on the clinical course of acute cholecystitis: A propensity score matching analysis using a nationwide inpatient database in Japan

BACKGROUND

We performed a retrospective comparative study to clarify the optimal gallbladder drainage method prior to elective cholecystectomy.

METHODS

We collected data from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database about cholecystitis patients who underwent gallbladder drainage prior to cholecystectomy in a subsequent hospitalization between April 2014 and March 2020. We divided the study population into two groups: an endoscopic gallbladder stenting (EGBS) group and a percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) group. We performed propensity score matching and compared surgical outcomes related to cholecystectomy.

RESULTS

We collected 6306 cases (PTGBD: 6112 cases; EGBS: 194 cases). In propensity score matching, we obtained 193 matched pairs from the study population. Long-term postoperative antibiotics therapy (2 vs. 9; risk ratio 4.7 [95% CI: 1.1-30.9]) was more frequent in the EGBS group than the PTGBD group. There were no significant differences between the two groups for laparotomic cholecystectomy and postoperative bile duct drainage. For reoperation, postoperative abdominal drainage and postoperative blood transfusion, there were few outcome occurrences and effect measures were not obtained.

CONCLUSION

Gallbladder drainage by EGBS may have more risk of surgical complications related to elective cholecystectomy than PTGBD. There are a few reports on this topic, so further research should be conducted.