Current Status of Endoscopic Gallbladder Drainage

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Endoscopic Procedures

Background:

• Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the gold standard for acute cholecystitis.
• Surgically unfit patients with comorbidities often cannot undergo cholecystectomy.
• Endoscopic gallbladder drainage (GBD) modalities have emerged for sepsis control in these patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review various gallbladder drainage methods.
• To highlight endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD).
• To explore the prospects of EUS-GBD as a definitive treatment.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on gallbladder drainage techniques.
• Focus on endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD).
• Discussion of lumen-apposing stents and their applications.

Main Results:

• EUS-GBD with lumen-apposing stents shows potential as a definitive treatment.
• EUS-GBD offers similar effectiveness to percutaneous transhepatic cholecystostomy.
• EUS-GBD may have lower adverse event rates compared to other methods.

Conclusions:

• EUS-GBD is a viable and potentially superior alternative for acute cholecystitis in surgically unfit patients.
• EUS-GBD provides a minimally invasive approach with promising outcomes.
• Advanced gallbladder procedures can be facilitated via EUS-GBD stents.