Endoscopic Ultrasonography-Guided Biliary Drainage: Experience of a Moroccan Center

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) is a relatively new therapeutic modality in the arsenal of endoscopists for attaining satisfactory biliary drainage when traditional ERC fails. The aim of our study is to describe the first Moroccan experience with EUS-BD in patients with malignant biliary obstruction after a failed or inaccessible ERCP. Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted at Ibn Sina Hospital, from Mars 2018 to July 2022, which include 27 patients with an inoperable or metastatic malignant biliary obstruction who underwent endoscopic ultrasonography-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) in case of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) failure. Results: From a total of 288 patients with malignant biliary obstruction,27 underwent EUS-BD (9,3%), 15 EUS-guided hepaticogastrostomy (55,5%) and 12 EUS-guided choledocoduodenostomy (44,4%) were performed. The mean age was 62.5 years (age range: 23-74 years), a male predominance of 59% was noted, cholestatic jaundice was present in 100% of patients and associated with pruritus in 92.59% of cases. The mean level of Total Bilirubin was 190 mg/l. The causes of biliary obstruction were: an inoperable pancreatic head mass in 13 patients(48,1%), a cholangiocarcinoma in 7 patients (25.9%), an ampullary mass in 4 patients(14,8%), a gallbladder cancer with hepatic and duodenal invasion in one patient (3,7%), a gastric antropyloric adenocarcinoma with pancreatic head invasion in one patient (3,7%) and Duodenal adenocarcinoma in one patient (3,7%).The leading causes of failed ERCP were secondary to tumor infiltration of the duodenal wall and critical duodenal stenosis in 11 cases (40,7%), in 9 cases due to a difficult cannulation (33.3%) and in 7 cases due to a failure to pass the stricture by ERCP (25.9%). In EUS-HG The technical and the clinical success rates were 86.6% (13/15) and 84.6% (11/13), respectively, the complication rate was 13.3% (2/15) including one case of stent migration complicated with bile leak and one case of cholangitis. In EUS-CD The technical and the clinical success rates were 91.6% (11/12) and 81.8% (9/11)), respectively, the complication rate was 16.6% (2/12) including two cases of cholangitis. The technical and the clinical success rates in all EUS-BD were 85.1% (24/27) and 83.3% (20/24), respectively. The complication rate was 14.8% (4/27). Conclusion: EUS-BD appears to be an effective and safe therapeutic option for biliary decompression in cases where ERCP fails.