Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Jun 10, 2015; 7(6): 606-616
Published online Jun 10, 2015. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v7.i6.606
Endoscopic management of biliary complications after liver transplantation: An evidence-based review
Carlos Macías-Gómez, Jean-Marc Dumonceau
Carlos Macías-Gómez, Gastroenterology Service, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Juan D Peron 4190, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jean-Marc Dumonceau, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Geneva University Hospitals, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Author contributions: Both authors contributed equally to the design of the review, literature research, interpretation of data, and writing of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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: Carlos Macías-Gómez, MD, Gastroenterology Service, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Juan D Peron 4190, Buenos Aires, Argentina. carlos.macias@hospitalitaliano.org.ar
Telephone: +54-1147-861218
Received: September 24, 2014
Peer-review started: September 24, 2014
First decision: December 17, 2014
Revised: February 22, 2015
Accepted: March 16, 2015
Article in press: March 18, 2015
Published online: June 10, 2015
Processing time: 268 Days and 14.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: One third of liver transplant recipients are affected by biliary tract complications which are the major source of morbidity in these patients. Biliary-biliary (as opposed to bilio-enteric) anastomoses are first treated by endoscopy, with resolution of > 85% and > 75% of cases in deceased and living-donor transplant recipients, respectively. New stenting protocols and new designs of fully covered self-expandable metal stents are at the frontline of efforts aiming to reduce patient burden during treatment. Here, we discuss the latest developments in the endoscopic approaches to these complications.