Safety and Efficacy of Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography for Common Bile Duct Stones in Liver Cirrhotic Patients

In order to investigate the safety and efficacy of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatograpy（ERCP） in liver cirrhosis patients with common bile duct stones, we retrospectively analyzed data of 46 common bile duct stones patients with liver cirrhosis who underwent ERCP between 2000 and 2008. There were 12 cases of Child-Pugh A, 26 cases of Child-Pugh B, and 8 cases of Child-Pugh C. 100 common bile duct stones patients without liver cirrhosis were randomly selected. All the patients were subjected to ERCP for biliary stones extraction. The rates of bile duct clearance and complications were compared between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients. The success rate of selective biliary cannulation was 95.6% in liver cirrhotic patients versus 97% in non-cirrhotic patients（P〉0.05）. The bile duct clearance rate was 87% in cirrhotic patients versus 96% in non-cirrhotic patients, but the difference was not statistically significant. Two liver cirrhotic patients（4.35%, 2/46） who were scored Child-Pugh C had hematemesis and melena 24 h after ERCP. The hemorrhage rate after ERCP in non-cirrhotic patients was 3%. The hemorrhage rate associated with ERCP in Child-Pugh C patients was significantly higher（25%, 2/8） than that（3%, 3/100） in non-cirrhotic patients（P〈0.01%）. There was no significant difference between these two groups in the rate of post-ERCP pancreatitis（PEP） and cholangitis. ERCP is safe and effective for Child-Pugh A and B cirrhotic patients with common bile duct stones. Hemorrhage risk in ERCP is higher in Child-Pugh C patients.

Composition of common bile duct stones in Chinese patients during and after endoscopic sphincterotomy

AIM： Endoscopic sphincterotomy （ES） is a well-established therapeutic modality for the removal of common bile duct （CBD） stones. Alter ES there are still around 10% of patients that experience recurrent CBD stones. The aim of this study is to investigate the composition of CBD stones before and alter ES and its clinical significance in Chinese patients.METHODS： From January 1996 to December 2003, 735 patients with CBD stones received ES at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital and stone specimens from 266 patients were sent for analysis. Seventy-five patients had recurrent CBD stones and stone specimens from 44 patients were sent for analysis. The composition of the stones was analyzed by infrared （IR） spectrometry and they were classified as cholesterol or bilirubinate stones according to the predominant composition. Clinical data were analyzed.RESULTS： In the initial 266 stone samples, 217 （82%） were bilirubinate stones, 42 （16%） were cholesterol stones,3 were calcium carbonate stones, 4 were mixed cholesterol and bilirubinate stones. Patients with bilirubinate stones were significantly older than patients with cholesterol stones （66＋13 years vs 56＋17 years, P = 0.001）. In the 44 recurrent stone samples, 38 （86%） were bilirubinate stones, 3 （7%） were cholesterol stones, and 3 were mixed cholesterol and bilirubinate stones. In 27 patients, both initial and recurrent stone specimens can be obtained,23 patients had bilirubinate stones initially and 2 became cholesterol stones in the recurrent attack. In the four patients with initial cholesterol stones, three patients had bilirubinate stones and one patient had a cholesterol stone in the recurrent attack.CONCLUSION： Bilirubinate stone is the predominant composition of initial or recurrent CBD stone in Chinese patients, The composition of CBD stones may be different from initial stones afl：er ES,