Laparoscopy-assisted versus balloon enteroscopy-assisted ERCP after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Background: Patients who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) are at increased risk of biliary disease necessitating endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The most widely used approaches to perform ERCP after RYGB are laparoscopy-assisted ERCP (LA-ERCP) and balloon enteroscopy-assisted ERCP (BEA-ERCP). There are few studies comparing these procedures. We aimed to compare the performance, benefits, and harms of LA-ERCP and BEA-ERCP in RYGB patients.

Methods: We identified all RYGB patients who underwent ERCP at two tertiary care endoscopy centers in Oslo, Norway between May 2013 and December 2017. One center performed BEA-ERCP, the other LA-ERCP. Procedure success was defined as fulfillment of the therapeutic or diagnostic aim, according to the procedure description. Adverse events were classified according to the Clavien-Dindo grading system.

Results: During the study period, 40 BEA-ERCP and 39 LA-ERCP procedures were performed in 68 patients. Procedure success rate was 72.5 % for BEA-ERCP and 87.2 % for LA-ERCP ( = 0.14). Adverse events occurred in 18 % of BEA-ERCP and 28 % of LA-ERCP ( = 0.23). Serious adverse events (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥ 3b) occurred in 2.5 % of BEA-ERCP and 7.7 % of LA-ERCP procedures ( = 0.36). Concomitant cholecystectomy was performed in 25 of the 39 LA-ERCP procedures. The median procedure times for LA-ERCP performed with and without concomitant cholecystectomy were 201 minutes and 140 minutes, respectively, and for BEA-ERCP was 125 minutes.

Conclusions: In experienced hands, both LA-ERCP and BEA-ERCP have high success rates after RYGB. The choice of approach should be individualized according to patient characteristics and available physician competence.