Malignant biliary disease: percutaneous interventions

Interventional radiologists have an important role in the management of patients with malignant biliary obstruction. This article describes the techniques for percutaneous biliary drainage, insertion of biliary endoprostheses, and the management of occluded biliary endoprostheses. Most procedures are performed by using fluoroscopic guidance alone. Ultrasound is also a useful modality for guiding biliary drainage, particularly drainage of the left biliary ducts. Patients should be treated by internal drainage if possible. Metallic endoprostheses can be inserted at the time of the initial biliary drainage procedure. Plastic tubes should be inserted a few days after biliary drainage because of their relatively large size compared with metallic stents. Occluded plastic stents should be replaced. Blocked metallic stents should be treated either by placement of additional overlapping metallic stents or by placement of plastic stents within the metallic stent lumen.