Initial experience of endoscopic ultrasound‐guided antegrade covered stent placement with long duodenal extension for malignant distal biliary obstruction (with video)

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)‐guided antegrade covered stent placement with long duodenal extension (EASL) for malignant distal biliary obstruction (MDBO) with duodenal obstruction (DO) or surgically altered anatomy (SAA) after failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). METHODS: Outcomes were technical and clinical success, reintervention rate, adverse events, stent patency, and overall survival. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and competing‐risk analysis were performed to compare with conventional EUS‐BD. RESULTS: Twenty‐five patients (DO, n = 18; SAA, n = 7) were included. The technical and clinical success rates were 96% and 84%, respectively. Reintervention occurred in two patients (8.3%). Adverse events occurred in six patients (24%; two cholangitis, 16%; four mild postprocedural pancreatitis [24% (n = 4/17) in patients with non‐pancreatic cancers]). The median patency was 9.4 months, and the overall survival was 2.73 months. After IPTW adjustment, the median patency in the EASL (n = 25) and conventional EUS‐BD (n = 29) were 10.1 and 6.5 months, respectively (P = .018). CONCLUSIONS: EASL has acceptable clinical outcomes with a low reintervention rate but higher rate of postprocedural pancreatitis in patients with non‐pancreatic cancers. Randomized trials comparing EASL and conventional EUS‐BD for MDBO with pancreatic cancers and DO/SAA after failed ERCP are needed to validate our findings.