Late Biliary Complications after Pancreaticoduodenectomy

Since morbidity of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) has been improved, concerns about late complications have raised. We present a review of long-term biliary complications after PD attended at our institution. The data of 86 patients operated on from January 2001 to May 2014 were examined and incidence of late biliary complications was recorded. The preoperative features of the patients, timing of symptoms appearance, results of diagnostic imaging test, and the management strategies were analyzed. Late biliary complications occurred in 14 patients (16.3%). The median time to diagnosis was 9.50 months. The preoperative peak bilirubin level, need for preoperative drainage and intraoperative blood loss were not significantly different for patients with long-term biliary events. Eight patients (57.14%) developed true biliary strictures. Three of them (37.5%) had experienced a postoperative biliary leak (P < 0.0005) and resulted in benign strictures. The remaining five patients revealed tumor recurrence. Six patients had no biliary obstruction and cholangitis could only be explained through afferent-limb stasis. Late biliary strictures appear predominantly in the first postoperative year and develop more likely if a bile leak occurred in the postoperative period. However, biliary strictures are not always responsible for late biliary symptoms and afferent limb stasis may also be included in the differential diagnosis.