BILIARY DISEASE IN PREGNANCY: A DIAGNOSTIC DILEMMA

This is a case report of a 37-year-old female who presented with deranged liver function tests, epigastric pain, fevers, vomiting, mild hypertension, and proteinuria in pregnancy. This was on a background of gestational diabetes, dyspepsia, and previous cholecystectomy. This case report highlights the importance of considering various causes of liver pathology during pregnancy besides those specifically associated with pregnancy, as well as the necessity of early specialist input to investigate symptomatic choledocholithiasis in pregnancy

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided extraluminal drainage: Novel concepts, challenges and future directions

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided management of abdominal fluid collections adjacent to the gastroduodenal lumen is a relatively new concept attracting a lot of interest in recent years. The ability of EUS to identify and drain these collections in the same session accounts for the surge of interest in these novel techniques. On the other hand, the complexity of these interventions and associated serious complications has moderated the enthusiasm of novice endoscopists to some extent and reiterated that focused research and technical innovations are needed to make EUS-guided drainage simpler and safer. Self-expandable metallic stents (SEMS) have emerged in the last decade in the endoscopic management of malignant luminal gastrointestinal strictures. The use of SEMS in the management of benign conditions (biliary, pancreatic, and colonic strictures) is also rapidly expanding. Recently, fully-covered (FC)-SEMS have been successfully used for drainage of peripancreatic and pericholecystic fluid collections. Here we will review the existing data and future directions in the use of FC-SEMS for such drainage procedures. We will also review the literature on novel "purpose-made" prostheses, such as the lumen-apposing metallic stents, which aim to address technical problems arising in EUS-guided drainage procedures when conventional SEMS are used. Further development of these and other similar devices may transform EUS-guided drainage procedures from an esoteric concept to "mainstream", first-line intervention

Oesophageal stenting: Status quo and future challenges

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Diagnostic utility of single-user peroral cholangioscopy in sclerosing cholangitis.

Abstract Objective. To evaluate the diagnostic utility of single-operator peroral cholangioscopy (SOC) in patients with sclerosing cholangitis. Methods. All patients with sclerosing cholangitis who underwent SOC procedures due to suspicious biliary strictures, in one Swedish and four UK tertiary centers in 2008-2012, were retrospectively enrolled. For each SOC procedure in sclerosing cholangitis, another one attempted due to a single biliary stricture in the same center and calendar year was randomly selected as control. Patients were followed up until death or last clinic visit until November 2012. Results. Fifty-four SOC procedures were attempted in 52 sclerosing cholangitis patients (48 with primary sclerosing cholangitis, 4 with IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis). Cannulation with the SOC system failed more frequently in sclerosing cholangitis (15% vs. 2% in controls; p = 0.015). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of SOC (including tissue sampling) for cancer diagnosis were similar in sclerosing cholangitis and controls (50% vs. 55%, 100% vs. 97%, and 88% vs. 80%, respectively) with largely overlapping confidence intervals. Adverse events were more common in sclerosing cholangitis, due to an increased frequency of cholangitis (11% vs. 2% in controls; p = 0.051). Conclusions. SOC is equally accurate in cancer diagnosis in sclerosing cholangitis and patients with single biliary strictures. However, cholangioscope insertion may be hampered by bile duct narrowing and post-SOC cholangitis is more common in sclerosing cholangitis