Elective Endoscopic Gallbladder Treatment: Pilot Study

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) represents the gold standard for treatment of elective and acute of gallbladder diseases, such as acute cholecystitis (AC). However, in elderly patients or in those with severe comorbidities, urgent LC can be associated with increase morbidity (up to 41%) and mortality (up to 19%). In these patients, placement of a percutaneous gallbladder drainage catheter (PT-GBD) or colecistostomy can be utilized to drain the gallbladder until infection is resolved, as a bridge to subsequent surgery or as definitive treatment.4 PT-GBD, however, is associated with major adverse events (AEs), such as intra-hepatic hemorrhage, pneumothorax, biliary peritonitis and pneumonia that occur in about 6.2% of patients. Moreover, PT-GBD has several disadvantages including risk of bile leak from the site of drainage, AC recurrency, self-removal of the drainage by the patient e/o for spontaneous migration (0-25%), with the need for a repeat procedure to reposition the drainage catheter. Finally, percutaneous drainage causes discomfort for the patient, it is often associated with localized pain at the placement site, and can be felt as a cosmetic disfigurement. Recently, to overcome PT-GBD limitations, EUS-guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD) has been introduced as an alternative minimally invasive therapeutic intervention for treatment of patients with high surgical risk who present with AC. This procedure has been strongly facilitated by the introduction of lumen-apposing metal stents (LAMSs), allowing adherence of the mobile gallbladder with the gastric/duodenal lumen and formation of a permanent fistulous tract through which therapeutic maneuvers are feasible, rendered EUS-GBD highly safe. The procedure has high technical and clinical success rates and favorable safety profile, with low risk of recurrent AC. Several retrospective studies and meta-analyses favored EUS-GBD over PTGBD. However, recently updated Tokyo guidelines still prefer PT-GBD as a primary treatment for high surgical risk AC patients, leaving EUS-GBD as a valid option only for experienced endosonographers working in high volume centers.

approach has been utilized even in relatively EUS-GBD, followed, when needed, by intra-cholecystic endoscopic interventions has been utilized even in young patients as recently reported in a very provocative case series,that demonstrated successful intra-cholecystic giant stones clearance through the LAMS using previously described endoscopic laser lithotripsy in five patients with a mean age of 50 years, who rejected surgery and desired gallbladder preservation. After removal of LAMS, the fistula was closed with clips or spontaneously, with no gallstone recurrence in any patient after a mean 8-month follow-up. A second category of patients who might benefit from EEGBT are elderly individuals with cardiac, respiratory and other major comorbidities posing them at high surgical risk, who suffer from previous episodes of cholecystitis, recurrent colic episodes due to gallbladder stones, or with biliary acute pancreatitis due to stones migration. Based on all the above considerations, we have designed a prospective, pilot study to evaluate the safety (i.e., adverse events rate) and efficacy (i.e., clinical success rate) of elective EEGBT performed using LAMS stent with electrocautery-enhanced delivery system, followed by intra-cholecystic endoscopic interventions when needed in elderly patients with benign gallbladder diseases at high surgical risk, in whom an indication to perform cholecystectomy was indicated.