Introduction: Colocutaneous fistulas are severe complications that traditionally are repaired surgically with resection of the fistula followed by end-to-end anastomosis of the bowel. Given the high morbidity of surgery, an alternative approach to consider is endoscopic fistula closure with clips, which is a minimally invasive approach and is safe with high success rates.1–5 Currently, there are no reports in the literature describing endoscopic closure of the appendiceal orifice. This video case report describes a technique for placement of an over the endoscope clip at the appendiceal orifice to effectively close a colocutaneous fistula. Materials and Methods: The patient was a 69-year-old male with Marfan's syndrome who was 5 months status post primary repair of a duodenal perforation with feculent peritonitis. His early postoperative course was complicated by a persistent leak from an unknown source. One month postoperatively, imaging showed a large retroperitoneal abscess that required percutaneous drain placement. At that time, surgical endoscopy was consulted for duodenal evaluation and found no clear evidence of a leak from the duodenum. A percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube with a jejunal feeding extension was placed. Four months after his index operation, he presented to the clinic with a change in drain output character that was suspicious for an enterocutaneous fistula. Fistulogram with contrast injected into the patient's percutaneous drainage catheter demonstrated continuity with the colon in the right lower quadrant. He was taken for a colonoscopy and fluoroscopy for further evaluation of the colocutaneous fistula. After injection of saline at the drain site, saline was seen trickling into the cecum from the appendiceal orifice. The decision was made to close the orifice with a 12/6T over-the-endoscope clip. The percutaneous retroperitoneal drain was removed 5 days postoperatively and he was discharged home 7 days postoperatively on a low residue diet. Results: At 1 month follow-up, the patient was doing well on a regular diet with no abdominal pain or fevers. A routine imaging scan performed 7 weeks postoperatively showed no recurrent retroperitoneal fluid collection. His gastrojejunal feeding tube was removed. Conclusion: Over-the-endoscope clipping of the appendiceal orifice to repair a colocutaneous fistula is technically feasible and appears safe. Endoscopic therapy spared this patient from a potential ileocecectomy. To date, no other similar procedures have been performed by our department in other patients. Further study is necessary to establish the safety of this procedure before its implementation as standard practice. A.H. has no disclosures. E.M.P. is a lecturer for BD, Medtronic, Ovesco, and Boston Scientific. E.M.P. is a consultant for Boston Scientific, Actuated Biomedical, Baxter, Wells Fargo, Cook Biotech, Neptune Medical, Surgimatrix, CMR Surgical, Boehringer Laboratories, Allergan, and Noah Medical. J.S.W. is a consultant for Boston Scientific. Author(s) have received and archived patient consent for video recording/publication in advance of video recording of procedure. Runtime of video: 5 mins 20 secs This video was accepted as a video presentation at the 2023 Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgery on March 29 to April 1, 2023.
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Apr 5, 2024
Grace Nguyen + 5
Open Access
