Long-Term Efficacy of Percutaneous Internal Plastic Stent Placement for Non-anastomotic Biliary Stenosis After Liver Transplantation

Eun Sun Lee, Joon Koo Han, Ji-Hyun Baek, Suk-Won Suh, Ijin Joo, Nam-Joon Yi, Kwang-Woong Lee, Kyung-Suk Suh

We aimed to evaluate the long-term efficacy of percutaneous management of non-anastomotic biliary stenosis after liver transplantation, using plastic internal biliary stents. This study included 35 cases (28 men, 7 women; mean age: 52.09 ± 8.13 years, range 34-68) in 33 patients who needed repeated interventional procedures because of biliary strictures. After classification of the biliary strictures, we inserted percutaneous biliary plastic stents through the T-tube or percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage tracts. Stents were exchanged according to percutaneous methods at regular 2- to 6-month intervals. The stents were removed if the condition improved, as observed on cholangiogram as well as based on clinical findings. The median patient follow-up period after initial diagnosis and treatment was 6.04 years (range 0.29-9.95 years). We assessed treatment success rate and patient and graft survival times. During the follow-up period, 14 patients (14/33, 42.42 %) were successfully treated and were tube-free. The median tube-free time, time without a stent, was 4.13 years (range 1.00-9.01). In contrast, internal plastic stents remained in 9 patients (9/33, 27.27 %) until the last follow-up. These patients had acceptable hepatic function. Among the remaining 10 patients, 3 (3/33, 9.09 %) were lost to regular follow-up and the other 7 (7/33, 21.21 %) patients died. The overall graft loss rate was 20.0 % (7/35). The median time from initial treatment to graft loss was 1.84 years (range 0.42-4.25). Percutaneous plastic stents placement is technically feasible and clinically useful in patients with multiple biliary stenoses following liver transplantation.