[Interventional procedures of the bile duct in patients after stomach resections (Billroth II)]

In the hands of an experienced endoscopist ERCP is an important method for the diagnosis of biliopancreatic diseases of Billroth II patients, but less effective than in nonoperated patients. Percutaneous procedures increase the success rate of nonoperative therapy. We report our own results of in 386 Billroth II patients: Success rate of diagnostic ERCP was 73.6% (284/386). Interventional endoscopy was performed in 192 patients: Successful EST was carried out in 93.6% (160/171), and complete extraction of bile duct stones was achieved in 74.8% (107/143), sufficient bile drainage was achieved by placement of transpapillary endoprostheses in 96.3% (79/82), while successful PTCD and percutaneous therapy were performed in 21 cases. Technical problems result from a long afferent loop, the upside-down position in the duodenal stump and difficult bile duct anatomy. We observed a complications rate of 3.6% (14/386) and a mortality of 0.5% (2/386). Our results are comparable with those in the literature, in which a similar number of difficult patients are included.