Introduction: Patients with acute cholecystitis who are unsuitable for cholecystectomy undergo conservative treatment or percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage. As these two methods are not always successful, further treatment options are needed. One increasingly popular method is endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage (EUSGBD), whereby stents are placed so as to create a permanent fistula connecting the gallbladder to the stomach or the duodenal bulb, thus enabling drainage of its contents to the gastrointestinal tract.
Aim: To present our early experience with EUSGBD for the treatment of cholecystitis in patients who are not suitable for cholecystectomy.
Material and methods: The procedure was performed in 5 patients with acute cholecystitis. Two patients also had symptoms of biliary obstruction due to pancreatic head cancer. An ultrasound endoscope was used to create a fistula between the gallbladder and the stomach or between the gallbladder and the duodenal bulb, in which a self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) was placed.
Results: All procedures were performed with no perioperative complications. In all patients, the clinical symptoms of cholecystitis subsided within 3-15 days. In those patients who also showed symptoms of biliary obstruction, these symptoms subsided within 3-6 days following the procedure.
Conclusions: The EUSGBD seems to be an effective and safe treatment for acute cholecystitis in patients unsuitable for cholecystectomy. It can also be used to treat jaundice caused by obstruction of the common bile duct, when no other methods can be used. The method is particularly promising in cases of concurrent acute cholecystitis and common bile duct obstruction.
Keywords: EUS-guided gallbladder drainage; acute cholecystitis; cholecystectomy; obstructive jaundice.