Management of endoscopic biliary stenting for choledocholithiasis: Evaluation of stent-exchange intervals

Table 1 Characteristics of patients who underwent regular stent exchange, n (%)

	Group A (n = 35)	Group B (n = 35)	P value
Stent-exchange schedule	6 mo	12 mo
Age, yr	82.9 (77-87)	84.4 (76-89)	NS
Sex, male/female	15/20	16/19	NS
Periampullary diverticulum	7 (20.0)	8 (22.9)	NS
Sphincterotomy	30 (85.7)	29 (82.9)	NS
Post-ERCP pancreatitis	1 (2.9)	1 (2.9)	NS
Reason for endoscopic stone removal failure
No. of stones	16 (45.7)	14 (40.0)	NS
Size of stones	17 (48.6)	18 (51.4)	NS
Anatomical difficulty	2 (5.7)	3 (8.6)	NS
Follow-up periods, mo	27.3 (12-40)	26.5 (14-37)	NS

Continuous variables are expressed as median (interquartile range). Categorical variables are expressed as numbers. ERCP: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; NS: Not significant.