Intestinal dysmotility in patients with sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. A reason for failed response to sphincterotomy

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) is associated with abdominal pain and is treated by sphincterotomy. Of 215 patients who underwent biliary sphincterotomy for SOD in our institution, 26 reported no improvement and 25 of those were found to have pancreatic sphincter dysfunction and subsequently underwent pancreatic septotomy. Nine patients remained symptomatic after the second intervention. Six of those nine patients, and seven of the 16 patients who improved after the septotomy, agreed to undergo an ambulatory duodenojejunal (DJ) manometry. DJ manometry was abnormal in four of the six symptomatic patients but only in one of seven patients who became asymptomatic after endoscopic treatment. We conclude that the persistence of symptoms after endoscopic ablation of the biliary and pancreatic sphincters is associated with abnormal intestinal motility, which may explain in part the lack of response to the endoscopic treatment.