Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage for malignant biliary obstruction: A report of two cases with five year survival

Abstract

We report two cases of malignant biliary obstruction in whom percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage has contributed to patient survival of more than 5 years. To our knowledge, this represents the first such case report in the literature. Both patients suffered biliary obstruction from poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, in all likelihood from the head of the pancreas. Morbidity has been low with only two episodes of significant sepsis and one episode of GI haemorrhage in one patient and both patients were able to enjoy an excellent quality of life. These cases demonstrate that percutaneous biliary drainage has a place not only in the short term palliation of patients with malignant biliary obstruction, but in the long term as well.