A twenty-year experience with endoscopic therapy for symptomatic primary sclerosing cholangitis

The current study presents 1 tertiary endoscopy center's 20-year experience using endoscopic therapy to treat patients with symptomatic primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Endoscopic therapy for patients with PSC and dominant strictures has been used for more than 20 years, but there is concern that instrumenting a sclerotic biliary tree induces risks that outweigh anticipated benefits.

In this retrospective chart review, 117 patients with PSC were identified using ICD-9 codes. Patients had a mean age of 47 years (range: 15 to 86 y). Mean duration of follow-up was 8 years (range: 2 to 20 y). Of the 117 identified patients, 106 underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography on one or more occasions (for a total of 317 endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographies), and a subset of 84 patients received endoscopic therapy for treatment of dominant strictures and/or deteriorating clinical status. Actual survival for endoscopically treated patients was compared with predicted survival using the Mayo Clinic natural history model for PSC.

Our chart review revealed 23 recognized complications among the 317 procedures performed (7.3%), and no procedure-related deaths. Observed patient survival at years 3 and 4 was significantly higher than that predicted by the Mayo Clinic natural history model for PSC (P=0.021).

Patients with PSC who have a deteriorating clinical course benefited from endoscopic therapy to provide drainage of bile ducts, removal of stones, and/or temporary relief from obstructions, with acceptable procedure-related complications and higher than expected 3-year and 4-year survival.