Safety of Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Biliary Drainage in Patients with Distal Malignant Biliary Obstruction with Large-Volume Ascites.

Authors

Takehiko Koga, Yusuke Ishida, Akihisa Ohno, Ryota Sagami, Yoshitaka Nakamura, Makoto Hinokuchi, Kosuke Takahashi, Hidefumi Nishikori, Nao Fujimori, Yasuhisa Hiroshima, Hiroki Taguchi, Shinichi Hashimoto, Eisuke Ozawa, Hiroaki Tsuji, Naoaki Tsuchiya, Takanori Kitaguchi, Keisuke Matsumoto, Makoto Fukuyama, Tatsuro Nii, Fumihito Hirai

Published in

Gut and liver. Sep 02, 2026. Epub Sep 02, 2026.

Abstract

The safety and efficacy of endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) in patients with large-volume ascites (LVA) remain unclear. We aimed to evaluate the safety of EUS-BD in patients with distal malignant biliary obstruction complicated by LVA.
This multicenter retrospective study included patients with distal malignant biliary obstruction who underwent EUS-BD. Pre-procedural computed tomography images were reviewed to identify patients with LVA, which was defined as ascites extending to the perihepatic region. The primary outcome was the safety of EUS-BD.
Among 1,524 patients with distal malignant biliary obstruction, 156 (10.2%) had LVA. EUS-BD was performed in 43 patients in whom endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography failed or was infeasible. The technical and clinical success rates for EUS-BD were 97.7% and 81.4%, respectively. Adverse events (AEs), severe AEs, and intra-abdominal AEs (bile leak and peritonitis) occurred in 34.9%, 9.3%, and 18.6% of the patients, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, peritoneal dissemination was identified as an independent risk factor for overall AEs (odds ratio, 4.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 20.65; p=0.04). In the subgroup analysis, the perihepatic ascites thickness on axial computed tomography images was significantly greater in patients with intra-abdominal AEs than in those without AEs (p<0.01). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the perihepatic ascites thickness predicted intra-abdominal AEs (area under the curve, 0.82; optimal cutoff, 15.5 mm). Fourteen patients (32.6%) died during the index hospitalization without discharge, with a median post-procedural survival of 1.8 months.
EUS-BD may be associated with a high risk of AEs in patients with LVA, warranting a careful selection of patients.

PMID:
42682268
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.