Dr. Todd H Baron, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, United States. todd_baron@med.unc.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Aug 25, 2015; 7(11): 1003-1013 Published online Aug 25, 2015. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v7.i11.1003
Endoscopic management of benign biliary strictures
Kavel H Visrodia, James H Tabibian, Todd H Baron
Kavel H Visrodia, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, United States
James H Tabibian, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, United States
Todd H Baron, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, United States
Author contributions: Visrodia KH and Tabibian JH contributed equally to this work; Visrodia KH and Tabibian JH performed the literature review for relevant content; Visrodia KH and Tabibian JH composed a first draft; Baron TH provided supervision and critical revisions of the manuscript; all authors approved of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Todd H Baron, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, United States. todd_baron@med.unc.edu
Telephone: +1-984-9740132 Fax: +1-984-9740744
Received: April 28, 2015 Peer-review started: April 29, 2015 First decision: June 4, 2015 Revised: June 25, 2015 Accepted: July 29, 2015 Article in press: August 3, 2015 Published online: August 25, 2015 Processing time: 122 Days and 11.1 Hours
Abstract
Endoscopic management of biliary obstruction has evolved tremendously since the introduction of flexible fiberoptic endoscopes over 50 years ago. For the last several decades, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) has become established as the mainstay for definitively diagnosing and relieving biliary obstruction. In addition, and more recently, endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has gained increasing favor as an auxiliary diagnostic and therapeutic modality in facilitating decompression of the biliary tree. Here, we provide a review of the current and continually evolving role of gastrointestinal endoscopy, including both ERCP and EUS, in the management of biliary obstruction with a focus on benign biliary strictures.
Core tip: Benign biliary strictures (BBSs) are commonly encountered by advanced endoscopists. As our understanding of longstanding techniques involving biliary dilation and plastic stent placement evolves, newer therapeutic options such as self-expandable metal stents and endoscopic ultrasound have become available. Here we review the literature pertaining to the most common etiologies of BBSs with current considerations for their respective endoscopic management.
