Aims EUS-guided biliary drainage for palliation of malignant biliary obstruction offers
the advantage of multiple access and exit routes, and has emerged as a viable option
for patients after failed ERCP. The two main routes of drainage are trans-luminal
(TL, choledocho-duodenostomy (CDS) and hepatico-gastrostomy (HGS), and trans-papillary
(TP) via an antegrade approach (AG). There is an expectation that trans-luminal route
should provide longer stent patency as the stent does not traverse the tumor. There
is no data on the preferred EUS-BD technique for Hilar blocks. We conducted a multicenter
randomized study to compare the short and long term outcomes of the two routes.
Methods In this open label randomized study from 5 centers, patients with unresectable malignant
biliary obstruction (distal and type I hilar) and failed ERCP were randomized into
receiving either TL (CDS or HGS) or TP stenting (AG). Magnetic resonance cholangio-pancreatography
was used to determine the type of hilar block. The primary outcome was stent patency,
while secondary outcome measures were time to recurrent biliary obstruction (TRBO),
technical success (TS), clinical success (CS) and adverse event rate (AER). These
patients were followed up for a median of 251 days (IQR174). A subset of patients
with Type I hilar block were analysed for this study.
Results 120 patients were recruited over a 3years period, 41 with type I hilar block (21-HGS,
20-AG). No significant difference was found in the TS and CS between distal and hilar
blocks (TS 92.4% vs 92.6%, p=1, CS 91.1% vs 82.9%, p=0.2). The AER were significantly
higher for hilar blocks (31.7% vs 10.1%, p=0.006). There was no significant difference
in TS (21 (100%) vs 17 (85%), p=0.107, OR 1.18, 95%CI 0.979-1.414) and CS (19 (90.48%)
vs 15 (75%), p=0.238, OR 3.18, 95%CI 0.537-18.667) for hilar block patients with TL
or TP route. There was no significant difference between the AER (7 (33.33%) vs 6
(30%), p=0.82, OR 0.86, 95%CI 0.229-3.203). One patient (4.76%) died on day 6 in the
TL(HGS)group. The rate of stent block was lower for TP group, but did not reach statistical
significance, at 1month (9.52% vs 0%, p=0.49), 3month (14.29% vs 5%, p=0.61) and 6month
(23.81% vs 5%, p=0.18). The mean TRBO was 91 days longer in the TP arm (323.35 vs
232.65days, p=0.053).
Conclusions EUS guided biliary drainage for Type I Hilar block is safe and effective, and has
similar technical and clinical success rates but significantly higher AER compared
to distal blocks. Both transluminal (HGS) and transpapillary (AG) procedures have
equivalent technical and clinical success and adverse event rates for hilar blocks.
The stent patency is longer for transpapillary route but did not reach statistical
significance.