Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Aug 27, 2022; 14(8): 874-876
Published online Aug 27, 2022. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v14.i8.874
Risk prediction of common bile duct stone recurrence based on new common bile duct morphological subtypes
Hirokazu Saito, Shuji Tada
Hirokazu Saito, Shuji Tada, Department of Gastroenterology, Kumamoto City Hospital, Kumamoto 862-8505, Japan
Author contributions: Saito H wrote the letter; Tada S revised the letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hirokazu Saito, MD, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Kumamoto City Hospital, 4-1-60, Higashimachi, Higashi-ku, Kumamoto 862-8505, Japan. arnestwest@yahoo.co.jp
Received: April 19, 2022
Peer-review started: April 19, 2022
First decision: June 12, 2022
Revised: June 16, 2022
Accepted: July 20, 2022
Article in press: July 20, 2022
Published online: August 27, 2022
Abstract

Stones in the common bile duct (CBD) are reported worldwide, and this condition is majorly managed through endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). CBD stone recurrence is an important issue after endoscopic stone removal. Therefore, it is essential to identify its risk factors to determine the necessity of regular follow-up in patients who underwent endoscopic removal of CBD stones. The authors identified that the S and polyline morphological subtypes of CBD were associated with increased stone recurrence. New morphological subtypes of CBD presented by the authors can be important risk predictors of recurrence after endoscopic stone removal. Furthermore, the new morphological subtypes of CBD may predict the risk of residual CBD stones or technical difficulty in CBD stone removal. Further studies with a large sample size and longer follow-up durations are warranted to examine the usefulness of the newly identified morphological subtypes of CBD in predicting the outcomes of ERCP for CBD stone removal.

Keywords: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, Common bile duct stone, Stone removal, Recurrence, Common bile duct morphology, Risk prediction

Core Tip: It is important to identify the risk factors associated with the recurrence of common bile duct (CBD) stones after endoscopic treatment as it helps determine the necessity of regular follow-up in patients who underwent endoscopic CBD stone removal. CBD morphology can be an important predictor of stone recurrence after endoscopic stone removal. Further studies with a large sample size and a longer follow-up period are warranted to examine the efficacy of the new CBD morphological subtypes presented by the authors for predicting endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography outcomes after CBD stone removal.