LAUSR

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) currently represents the procedure of choice to achieve biliary drainage (BD) in patients with obstruction of the biliary tree by various etiologies. However, even in experts hands in about 3%–10% of cases, the procedure is not technically feasible due to surgically altered anatomy, gastric outlet obstructions, periampullary diverticula, or complete ductal obstructions.[1‐3] In such cases, percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) is performed, which is associated with considerable morbidity (in up to 30% of cases), also causing significant discomfort to the patient because of the presence of the percutaneous drain and the need for reinterventions.[4,5]