Abstract No. 56 Comparing Outcomes of Percutaneous Biliary Drainage Catheters in Right versus Left Hepatic Approaches

Abstract

Determine if there is a difference in complications associated with right or left hepatic percutaneous biliary drain placement in patients with benign or malignant biliary etiology. This retrospective study included patients with benign or malignant biliary stricture and treated with percutaneous biliary drainage at a single institution from 7/28/2004 to 3/30/2021. Three hundred fifty-seven patients met inclusion criteria, seventy-seven on the left and two hundred and eighty on the right, with a mean age of 65.1 years. Complications associated with the initial drain placement or during subsequent intervention were collected and categorized. Perioperative complications included surgery, infection, hemorrhage, and drain failure. Complications during treatment with a percutaneous biliary drain included death, chills, catheter displacement, cholangitis, biliary stones, drain malfunction, fever resolving without treatment, and pericatheter leakage. Complications were also grouped as major or minor. Statistical analyses were performed using logistic regression analysis and P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Major interventional and treatment complication rates showed no statistical significance between left and right drains. The rate of minor interventional and treatment complications also showed no statistical significance between right and left drains. However, when cholangitis was analyzed individually, right sided hepatobiliary drains demonstrated a statistically significant increase in complication rates. Current literature describes safety of right biliary drain placement when compared with left, despite current equivocal study analyses. This large group analysis describes no statistically significant difference in complications between right and left hepatobiliary drains aside from slightly higher incidence of cholangitis for right sided drains.