Treatment efficacy and early complications of Percutaneous Transhepatic Holmium Laser Lithotripsy for biliary stones under Digital Subtraction Angiography guidance

Abstract

Background: Intrahepatic stones and common bile duct stones are common diseases in Vietnam. Surgical treatments have a high rate of remaining intrahepatic bile duct stones and are ineffective with intrahepatic stones and cases with biliary strictures, while endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography stone removal (ERCP) is usually indicated for small common bile duct stones and has disadvantages such as having to performe sphincterectomie of Oddi, 5% causing acute pancreatitis. Nowadays, minimally invasive treatment techniques are more and more developed. Percutaneous transhepatic lithotripsy under fluoroscopy guidance (TSQD) is an improved method using Holmium laser with small sized trocart (16F) help avoid open surgery and increase the rate of stone clearance, especially with stones located in the intrahepatic duct branches. For that reason, we conducted research to evaluate the treatment effectiveness and early complications of this method. Materials and method: This study was conducted on a group of 38 patients with main biliary tract stones, diagnosed and treated using PTHLL under fluoroscopy guidance at Hanoi Medical University Hospital from July 2018 to December 2019. Results: The PTHLL procedures was performed on patients with main extrahepatic biliary stones (28.9%) and those with intrahepatic stones, either isolated or combined (71.1%). One-step lithotripsy was applied in 26.3% of cases without cholangitis, simple stones. In another hand, Two-steps procedure were indicated in 73.7% of cases with cholangitis, multiple stones, and poor patient health. Stand-alone laser lithotripsy (23.7%) was suitable for simpler cases, while combination with baskets and balloons (76.3%) was used for complex situations. The overall complete stone clearance rate was 84.2%. Complications included septicemie (7.8%) and biloma (2.6%). No major complications like bleeding or deaths were encountered in this study. Conclusion: PTHLL under fluoroscopy guidance is a minimally invasive method that achieves a high rate of complete stone clearance in both intra- and extrahepatic biliary stones, with a low early complication rate. Key words: intervention, biliary stone, percutaneous transhepatic holmium laser lithotripsy.