Laparoscopic Magnetic Compression Biliojejunostomy: A Preliminary Clinical Study

Magnetic compression anastomosis is a feasible and effective method for bilioenteric anastomosis (BEA) in animal model. The objective of the present study was to report our initial clinical experience in laparoscopically magnetic compression bilioenteric anastomosis (LMC-BEA).

Patients with obstructive jaundice who were candidates for LMC-BEA were prospectively enrolled from 2013 to 2015. All the procedures were performed laparoscopically. A mother magnet and drainage tube were placed in the proximal bile duct and tightened by a purse suture after dissection of the common bile duct. The drainage tube was introduced into the jejunal lumen at the anastomotic site and guided a daughter magnet to approximate the mother magnet. The two magnets mated at the anastomotic site. All the patients were routinely followed up for magnets discharge till the end of the study.

In total, four patients with malignant obstructive jaundice and one patient with benign biliary stricture were included. The median age was 70 y (range, 49-74 y). The median time for LMC-BEA was 12 min (range, 8-15 min). A complete anastomosis was confirmed after a median time of 21 d (range, 5-25 d) postoperatively by cholangiography via drainage tube. The magnets were expulsed around 41 d after surgery (range, 12-47 d) postoperatively. With a median follow-up of 313 d (range, 223-1042 d), no complications associated with magnetic anastomosis was documented, such as bile leakage or anastomotic stricture.

Magnetic compression is a promising alternate method for laparoscopic BEA. Among the five patients undergoing LMC-BEA, no one developed anastomotic complications.