Different percutaneous transhepatic biliary stent placements and catheter drainage in the treatment of middle and low malignant biliary obstruction.

Background: For cases of middle and low biliary obstruction with left and right hepatic duct dilatation, the type of approach and whether different approaches affect the difficulty of puncture operation and intraoperative and postoperative complications have not been discussed in detail.

Aim: To compare the efficacy of different percutaneous transhepatic biliary stent placements and catheter drainage in treating middle and low biliary obstruction.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical records of 424 patients with middle and low biliary obstruction who underwent percutaneous liver puncture biliary stent placement and catheter drainage at the Department of Interventional Radiology, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital between March 2016 and March 2022. Based on the puncture path, patients were categorized into two groups: Subxiphoid left hepatic lobe approach group (Group A, 224 cases) and right intercostal, right hepatic lobe approach group (Group B, 200 cases). Liver function improvement, postoperative biliary bleeding incidence, postoperative pain duration, and abdominal effusion leakage around the drainage tube were compared between the two groups at 3 d and 1 wk after the surgery. Patient survival time was recorded during follow-up.

Results: All 424 surgeries were successful without adverse events. Group A comprised 224 cases, and Group B had 200 cases. There was no statistically significant difference in basic data between Group A and Group B ( > 0.05). No significant difference in postoperative biliary bleeding incidence was observed between the groups ( > 0.05). The decreased rates for total bilirubin (Group A: 69.23 ± 4.50, Group B: 63.79 ± 5.65), direct bilirubin (Group A: 79.30 ± 11.19, Group B: 63.62 ± 5.64), and alkaline phosphatase (Group A: 60.51 ± 12.23, Group B: 42.68 ± 23.56) in the 1 wk after surgery were significantly faster in Group A than in Group B. The decreased rate of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase was also significantly faster in Group A at both 3 d (Group A: 40.56 ± 10.32, Group B: 32.22 ± 5.12) and 1 wk (Group A: 73.19 ± 7.05, Group B: 58.81 ± 18.98) after surgery ( < 0.05). Group A experienced significantly less peritoneal effusion leakage around the drainage tube than Group B ( < 0.05). The patient survival rate was higher in Group A compared to Group B ( < 0.05).

Conclusion: In treating jaundice patients with middle and low biliary obstruction, a percutaneous left liver puncture demonstrated better clinical efficacy than a percutaneous right liver puncture.