[Effect of preoperative biliary drainage on surgical outcome after pancreatoduodenectomy]

There are theoretic arguments in favor and against biliary drainage before the pancreatoduodenectomy. Most of the studies failed to show any beneficial effect of this approach whereas others even reported an increased postoperative morbidity related with biliary drainage. Therefore, the role of preoperative biliary drainage remains controversial. So, we decided to analyze our own results in a series of patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy in order to determine the association between preoperative biliary drainage and postoperative outcome.

We analyzed 109 patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy between January 1990 and May 2003. Patients were classified in 3 groups: Group 1 (n = 64) patients without preoperative biliary drainage, Group 2 (n = 27) patients who underwent preoperative biliary drainage with sphincterotomy and stent placement, and Group 3 (n = 18) only sphincterotomy. Demographic characteristics, surgical risk, comorbility, type of surgery, pathology and biochemical parameters were analyzed. We also, stratified patients with and without cholestasis (total bilirubin > 3 mg/dL), and divided patients in two groups: with biliary drainage and without biliary drainage. Surgical and medical complications, the frequency of patients with at least one complication (global morbidity) and mortality were compared between groups. Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, chi2 and Fisher tests were used for the analysis of categorical and dimensional variables.

The most frequent postoperative diagnoses were biliopancreatic tumors. Global postoperative morbidity and mortality were 40% (n = 44) and 10% (n = 11), respectively. The frequency of surgery and medical complications were no significantly different among the 3 groups. However, when only patients with cholestasis were analyzed (n = 65), there was a lower frequency of surgical complications and global postoperative morbidity in patients with preoperative biliary drainage (p = 0.02, OR 0.14, CI 95% 0.04-0.50 and p < 0.001, OR 0.18, CI 95% 0.05-0.65, respectively). There were not significant differences in the frequency of medical complications (p = 0.09) and mortality.

Preoperative biliary drainage should not be considered as a routine procedure in candidates undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy; however, this maneuver decreased approximately seven times the risk of postoperative global morbidity in patients with cholestasis, mainly by reducing surgical complications reduction.