A novel percutaneous transhepatic treatment of a benign bile duct stricture - a pilot study

Aim To assess the effectiveness and outcome of repeated percutaneous transhepatic balloon dilatation combined with targeted intramucosal corticosteroid injection in patients with benign biliary stricture. Methods This single-center pilot study, conducted between February 2014 and June 2016, involved five patients with benign biliary stricture (4 men and 1 woman, mean age 58.2 years). The study included only patients in whom previous surgical or/and non-surgical treatments failed or could not be performed due to patients' medical history and local status. Results We successfully developed an alternative treatment for patients with benign biliary stricture and performed it without side effects. There were no major complications, and the only one minor complication was cholangitis. In the median follow-up period of 30.24 months (range 14.5 to 44.6 months), no re-occlusion was detected. The disease-free survival, calculated after excluding the first patient (who died of heart attack), was 34.175 months. Conclusion Percutaneous transhepatic corticosteroid injection combined with balloon dilatation could provide an alternative method for the treatment of benign biliary strictures that is effective in the long term and results in positive outcomes.