Long-term follow-up after endoscopic management of retained and recurrent common duct stones

Endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) was attempted on 128 patients because of retained or recurrent common bile duct stones. The duct was cleared in 118 cases (92%). Early complications arose after 27 (16.5%) of 164 sphincterotomies, with haemorrhage most common. Emergency laparotomy was performed in four cases. There were four deaths within a month of EST, two of them directly attributable to EST. In seven of the 118 patients with successful EST late complications (stenosis and/or recurrent stone) appeared during a median follow-up of 57 (range 24-101) months (after less than 2 years in 6 cases). Restenosis and new stones could usually be endoscopically treated. Ascending cholangitis was not a problem, provided that the bile flow was unobstructed. EST is relatively safe, and must now be considered the procedure of choice for postcholecystectomy choledocholithiasis especially in elderly or high-risk patients. EST in young, fit patients is more controversial, and requires further detailed longitudinal analyses.