A Two-Step Method for Percutaneous Transhepatic Choledochoscopic Lithotomy

Podsumowanie

This "two-step method" significantly improved the success rate of percutaneous transhepatic choledochoscopy and achieved a better prognosis of intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis.

Streszczenie

Intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis is a challenge in the field of biliary surgery. We present our experience using a two-step percutaneous transhepatic choledochoscopic lithotomy (PTCSL) procedure to treat challenging biliary stones. We retrospectively reviewed 81 patients with intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis treated using this two-step PTCSL from January 2013 to January 2020, including 40 males and 41 females, with an average age of 66 years. In contrast to traditional percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy (PTCS), a channel was established directly through a 16F Amplatz sheath, and the stone in the channel was removed with the aid of a nephroscope. The clinical efficacy and complications of all patients were analyzed. Eighty-one patients (81/81, 100%) had their biliary stones successfully removed; 62/81 patients (76.5%) had biliary stones completely removed after the first operation; 17/81 patients (21%) underwent a second operation; 2/81 patients (2.5%) needed a third operation to completely remove the stones. The incidence of severe bleeding during the operation was 0%, and there were no deaths. The use of the two-step PTCSL method is safe and efficacious, and contributes to a better prognosis of intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis.

Wprowadzenie

Intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis is a complex medical problem faced by surgeons and is very common in East Asian countries¹. At present, surgical intervention is required for most choledocholithiasis, while the main treatments for bile duct stones include open surgery, percutaneous transhepatic choledochoscopic lithotomy (PTCSL), laparoscopic lithotomy², percutaneous endoscopic biliary exploration^3,4, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. However, patients with bilioenteric anastomosis or Billroth II reconstruction, with an abnormal anatomical structure such as a duodenal periampullary diverticulum, which makes the biliary duct difficult to access through an endoscopic approach^5,6,7,8, or who have had previous complex abdominal surgeries, including partial gastrectomy, could not undergo endoscopic therapy or laparoscopic lithotomy. Endoscopic therapy may also not be suitable for hepatolithiasis with large and impacted stones. Therefore, PTCSL, in general, may be a better choice⁹.

The traditional PTCS approach follows such a procedure to expand the sinus gradually and perform percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage^10,11, which requires a relatively long hospitalization cycle, usually between 2 and 3 weeks, leading to the potential for biliary fistula, biliary tract infection, bleeding, and peritonitis, with multiple expanding sheath sizes. The procedure is composed of two parts. In the first step, the target bile duct is punctured, and the guide wire is inserted while observing the bile outflow. Then, a dilator is used to slowly expand the channel along the guide wire. After the channel is successfully established, the dilator is pulled out, a drain is placed into the target bile duct, and the guide wire is pulled out.

The percutaneous liver puncture and drainage (PTCD) is complete if the bile drainage is unobstructed and the drain is fixed without blood outflow. The sinus tract becomes stable 1 week after PTCD, when it can then be expanded. The guide wire is placed into the drain tube and expanded through the sinus tract along the guide wire with a 10F dilator, and finally placed into a 10F drain. The sinus tract is expanded once a week after surgery, with a 2F size increase each time, so that the sinus tract can be expanded to 16F at 4 weeks after PTCD. In the second step, after expansion of the sinus tract to 16F, the surgery to remove the stone is performed using a biliary fiber lens. Therefore, the traditional PTCSL described above requires a treatment cycle and contributes to high economic pressure for the patients. Moreover, low stone extraction efficiency and repeated and multiple surgical procedures for stone removal are also inevitable disadvantages of traditional PTCS, which limits the use of this technology.

From January 2013, we began to apply PTCS for the minimally invasive treatment of patients with complex intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis in our hospital but modified some key steps of traditional PTCS. In the first step, the surgery was performed at 1 week after PTCD, just when the sinus tract became stable, and the sinus was expanded to 16F directly, using a 16F expander which greatly reduced the preoperative preparation time. In the second step, different from the traditional technology, a Wolf nephroscope was used instead of a traditional choledochoscope to perform the operation, which we refer to as the "two-step PTCSL method." To determine whether the PTCSL procedure was safe, minimally invasive, and efficient, this study retrospectively reviewed 81 patients with intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis treated by the two-step PTCSL method from January 2013 to January 2020.

Protokół

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College (Shantou, China).

1. Preparations

1. Apply strict exclusion criteria to select patients and obtain signed informed consent forms¹² (Table 1).
2. Apply the following admission criteria:
   1. Select patients who voluntarily received the two-step PTCSL treatment.
   2. Select those patients who were confirmed to have hepatic and extrahepatic bile duct stones by adjuvant examination.
   3. Select patients who had undergone previous complicated abdominal surgery, such as partial gastrectomy combined with biliary-intestinal anastomosis or Billroth II reconstruction, or who had anatomical abnormalities and were unable to undergo an endoscopic retrograde cholangiao pancreatography (ERCP) examination.
   4. Select patients with liver function preoperatively assessed as Child-Pugh A or B grades.
   5. Select patients with normal function of the heart, lung, and other organs.
3. Ensure the availability of the laparoscopic imaging system, images of the pneumoperitoneum, Wolf nephroscope, adjustable pressure pump, and hydroelectric lithotripter.

2. Procedure

1. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangial drainage (PTCD)
   1. Insert an indwelling 8F biliary drainage tube 1 week before the operation to drain and reduce the swelling of bile duct.
   2. Wait for the sinus tract to become stable at 1 week after PTCD.
      ​NOTE: The puncture methodology must be chosen according to the particular area of bile conduit calculi when operating. For example, the left hepatic duct approach is performed under the xiphoid process and abdominal wall of the lower edge of the right costal arch.

3. Percutaneous transhepatic choledochoscopic lithotomy (PTCSL)

1. Before administering general anesthesia, instruct the patient to lie flat on the operating table. Following general anesthesia, disinfect the surgical site 3x with iodophor.
2. Inject 20 mL of saline into the bile duct along the drainage tube; pull the PTCD tube out after a guide wire is inserted into it.
3. For placement of the fascia dilator and sheath, expand the sinus using a 16F expander and join a 16F belt dilator so that the 16F sheath can reach the bile duct where the stone might have been placed.
4. After locating the stones, use clamping forceps to both break and remove the stones. For hard stones, use a hydraulic lithotripter to break the stone. Wash out small stones and powdered stones using an adjustable pressure pump. At the end of the procedure, leave a drainage tube inside the patient for 1 week (Figure 1).

Wyniki

All patients had their biliary tract stones cleared successfully, with 58 patients (58/81, 72%) having bile duct stones completely removed after the first operation, 18 patients (18/81, 22%) requiring a second operation, and five patients (5/81, 6%) undergoing a third operation to completely remove the stones. Three patients had recurrent intrahepatic cholelithiasis in the 5^th and 6^th postoperative years. There were 56 patients (56/81, 68.7%) who underwent percutaneous liver surgery, as well as 25 p...

Dyskusje

Intrahepatic and extrahepatic choledocholithiasis contribute to biliary obstruction, and the associated cholangitis could lead to gram-negative endotoxemia with clinical manifestations of septic shock or multiorgan dysfunction. Thus, biliary stones represent a complex disease that can be challenging for surgeons, especially in cases of patients who have had previous complex abdominal surgeries or patients with abnormal anatomical structure. PTCSL is being widely used around the world, but there remains a need for innovat...

Materiały

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.9% Normal saline solution		-
16-F series fascia dilator		type PLVW, Cook Medical
adjustable pressure pump		type APL; Guangzhou Jielun Medical Equipment Co. , Ltd, Guangdong Province, China
biliary balloon dilator		ATB advance; Cook Medical
blade		-
camera system		1088i HD Camera Control Unit, PAL 220 V; Stryker Corporation
Cavity mirror protective sleeve		-
clamp		5Fr, Richard Wolf GmbH, Germany
color ultrasound machine		DC-N2S, Mindray
Cook net basket		NGE-017115-MB, COOK Medical Inc. , Bloomington, USA
drainage pack		-
expander		-
guide wire		-
hydroelectric lithotripter		Aymed Medical, stanbul, Turkey
Iodophor		-
Kidney basin		-
light source		Voice-control compatible X8000 Xenon Light Source of 300 W;Stryker Corporation, MI
Medical syringe		-
puncture needle		-
suction apparatus		-
surgical gauze		-
trocar		-
Wolf nephroscope		12-degree Ultra-Wide-Angle Ureteroreno-scope; Richard Wolf GmbH, Germany
zebra guide wire		type HAW; Cook Medical, Bloomington, IN