Biliary stent placement over a standard papillotomy knife

Background: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) with stent placement is a common endoscopic procedure in patients with biliary disorders. ERC is an expensive procedure due to the fact that a large variety of equipment is required (e.g. guide wire, cannulation catheter, papillotomy knife, guiding catheter).

Objective: We describe a new technique of biliary stent placement over a standard sphincterotome used for primary cannulation.

Design: Case series.

Patients: 20 patients undergoing biliary stent placement over a standard disposable papillotomy knife.

Interventions: After cannulation of the common bile duct and sphincterotomy, a standard sphincterotome without any wire or guidance catheter was used for the placement of 10F plastic stents with a length of 6–10cm.

Main Outcome Measurements: Technical success of stent placement without complications.

Results: All patients underwent successful biliary stent placement. There were no procedure related complications.

Limitations: Only extrahepatic biliary stenting was performed. Limited number of patients.

Conclusions: Biliary stent placement over a standard papillotomy knife provides a simple, time-saving and cost-efficient technique.