Preoperative Biliary Drainage With Metal Versus Plastic Stents in Periampullary Cancer

Jaundice is one of the most common symptoms in patients with periampullary cancers including pancreatic cancer, common bile duct (CBD) cancer, ampulla of Vater (AoV) cancer, and duodenal cancer. Traditionally, preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) was routinely performed in these cancers because it might favorably influence sepsis, endotoxemia, and intravascular coagulation. However, a recent randomized control study reported that routine PBD in patients undergoing surgery for cancer of the pancreatic head increases the rate of complications. Therefore, routine PBD was not recommended. However, PBD is still necessary in case of patients with cholangitis or very high level of bilirubin or patients who are expected to receive delayed surgery.

In these patients with necessity of PBD, a plastic stent (PS) has been used because it is good for temporary use with cheap prices. However, it is sometimes occluded before surgery or not enough for rapid decompressing jaundice mainly because of its short diameter. In this aspect, a self-expandable metal stent (SEMS) has strength compared to PS because it has a longer diameter which enables rapid decompression with a fewer events of occlusion. However, SEMS is much more expensive than PS and the exact length of stent is more critical.

Although there are still lack of evidence which compares the results between PS and SEMS, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recently recommended the use of a short SEMS for pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients with cholangitis or fever. However, we needed more concrete evidence about this principle.

Inclusion criteria

A. Patients 20-80 years old B. Patients with surgically resectable periampullary cancer on CT scans with or without MRI or PET-CT scans C. ECOG Performance score 0 or 1 D. Patients who need preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) because of one or more of following causes

• Cholangitis defined as revised Tokyo guidelines
• Level of total bilirubin >= 10mg/dL
• Expected time to operation >= 7 days

Exclusion criteria

A. Patients who received previous endoscopic biliary drainage or percutaneous biliary drainage B. Patients with acute pancreatitis before PBD

C. Patients with bleeding tendency or coagulopathy or anticoagulation therapy as follows:

• Patients who take clopidogrel within 5 days before PBD
• Patients who take warfarin within 2 days before PBD
• Patients who receive heparin within 1 days before PBD D. Patients with pregnancy or suspected pregnancy E. Patients who are currently enrolled in another investigational trials that would directly interfere with current study