Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) is a treatment option for patients with biliary obstruction in whom traditional endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is not possible due to altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy.… Click to show full abstract
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) is a treatment option for patients with biliary obstruction in whom traditional endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is not possible due to altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy. In such cases, EUS-BD is a good alternative to surgery or percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD), with comparable clinical and technical success rates [1]. Two approaches have been described for EUSguided transluminal biliary drainage. EUS-guided hepaticogastrostomy uses the transgastric approach and EUS-guided choledochoduodenostomy uses the transduodenal approach [2]. Here, we present the case of a 78-yearold woman with a history of gallbladder cancer and cholangiocarcinoma, for which she underwent Whipple surgery 8 months earlier, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. She was admitted to the hospital after the 11th cycle of chemotherapy due to severe weakness and jaundice. Her blood tests were remarkable for high liver function tests of cholestatic pattern. Computed tomography of the abdomen showed an ill-defined lesion at the porta hepatis with intrahepatic biliary dilation. It was decided that EUS-guided hepaticogastrostomy should be performed. A 19-gauge needle was used to access the dilated left intrahepatic duct. Then, cholangiography revealed biliary obstruction extending to the bifurcation, with upstream biliary dilation. A guidewire was passed into the left intrahepatic duct and a hepaticogastrostomy tract was created using needle-knife electrocautery (Boston Scientific, Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA). Next, the tract was serially dilated, and a 10mm×10 cm fully covered metallic stent (Viabil; Conmed, Utica, New York, USA) was placed and subsequently dilated. An Autotome sphincterotome (Boston Scientific) was used to cross the obstruction; then, a 12 cm E-Videos
               
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