Endoscopic ultrasound guided drainage for pancreatic pseudocyst: experience in 8 patients

Backgrounds:

Pancreatic pseudocysts are a common complication of an acute pancreatitis, an exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis, or pancreatic trauma. The endoscopic transgastric or transduodenal approach is a current alternative to a surgical procedure if transpapillary drainage is not possible. Specially, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided drainage has recently been considered to be safe and effective technique.

Aims and Methods:

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness and safety for EUS-guided pancreatic pseudocyst drainage. We investigated yield of EUS-guided drainage in a retrospective cohort of patients with pancreatic pseudocysts. Eight consecutive cases of endoscopic transgastric or transduodenal drainage were studied for age, gender, size, success rates, complete cyst drainage, recurrence rates and complications.

Results:

In 8 patients (mean age 48.7 ± 10.5, M/F 5/3, transgastric/transduodenal 7/1) EUS-guided pancreatic pseudocysts drainage was performed. The symptoms that indicated requirement for drainage were abdominal pain (n=7), satiety (n=1). The mean size of the pseudocyst was 74.7 ± 33.9mm (range 40–137mm), location: head (n=3), body (n=2), tail (n=3). Four cases have been founded to be connected to the pancreatic ductal system. The success rates, complete cyst drainage, recurrence rates and complications were 100% (8/8), 100% (8/8), 37.5% (3/8), 12.5% (1/8), respectively.

Conclusions:

EUS-guided pancreatic pseudocyst is a safe and effective methods if transpapillary drainage is not possible.