, according to investigators.
These findings suggest a need for more careful patient selection with ERCP, and greater reliance upon noninvasive imaging prior to considering the procedure, reported lead author Nikhil R. Thiruvengadam, MD, of Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda, California, and colleagues.
Dr. Nikhil R. Thiruvengadam
“It is assumed that cholecystectomy is a definitive procedure for symptomatic gallstone disease in patients without concomitant choledocholithiasis,” the investigators wrote in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. “This is because the development of primary choledocholithiasis is rare. Despite this, many patients have persistent or new gastrointestinal symptoms post cholecystectomy.”
Symptoms such as a dilated bile duct or abnormal liver function tests may suggest choledocholithiasis or sphincter of Oddi disorders (SOD), they noted, but recent data supporting ERCP for SOD show no significant benefit for patients with normal-sized ducts.
“Guidelines advocate for confirming the presence of choledocholithiasis using magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) or endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) given the substantial risks associated with ERCP,” Dr. Thiruvengadam and colleagues wrote.
Real-world implementation of this and associated strategies, however, remain unclear, prompting the present study.
The dataset, drawn from the Optum Clinformatics Data Mart, included 583,712 adults who had undergone cholecystectomy from 2004 to 2019, focusing on 4274 individuals who had their first ERCP more than one year post surgery. The investigators assessed the incidence, characteristics, and outcomes of these late ERCP procedures, exploring their association with patient comorbidities and the use of biliary imaging techniques such as MRCP and EUS.
From 2004 to 2021, use of noninvasive biliary imaging approximately doubled from 35.9% to 65.5% (P < .001). Yet incidence of first-time ERCP more than 1 year after cholecystectomy increased much more — by eightfold — from 0.5 to 4.2 per 1000 person-years (P < .001). Less than half (44%) of these late ERCP procedures involved gallstone removal.
Patients undergoing late ERCP were more likely to have higher baseline comorbidities, including disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. They were also more likely to be taking an antispasmodic, anxiolytic, or chronic opioid medication.
“Late ERCP is more common and associated with worse outcomes, presumably because of higher baseline comorbidities that overlap with DGBI and mimickers of choledocholithiasis,” the investigators noted. “These highly symptomatic individuals are more likely to undergo noninvasive biliary imaging, which seems to be prompting more late ERCP.”
In turn, late ERCP is incurring more adverse events, including post-ERCP pancreatitis (7.1%), hospitalization (13.1%), and new chronic opioid use (9.7%).
“Given the known risks of ERCP, especially in this context, there remains a need to be more restrictive with offering ERCP in this setting,” Dr. Thiruvengadam and colleagues concluded. “ERCP should be used sparingly for patients who do not have confirmed choledocholithiasis until future studies ... can define which patients with a remote history of cholecystectomy respond to ERCP interventions.”
The investigators disclosed relationships with Olympus, Medtronic, ACI, and others.
