Totally percutaneous rendezvous technique for the treatment of complete biliary obstruction after liver transplant

Abstract

Biliary complications, including biliary stricture and obstruction, remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality after living donor liver transplantation. In these patients the biliary system may not be accessible by endoscopic approach due to Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy, and a percutaneous approach may be considered to avoid surgical interventions. When there is complete biliary obstruction, the conventional percutaneous approaches may not be successful to cross the hepaticojejunostomy anastomosis. In this study, a totally percutaneous rendezvous technique was used to create a neo-biliary-enteric tract using a trans-biliary Rosch-Uchida needle in a patient with complete biliary obstruction and Roux-en-Y anastomosis after a split liver transplant. A biodegradable stent was placed after recanalization with long-term patency on follow up.

Keywords

• Biliary obstruction
• Liver transplant
• Rendezvous technique
• Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy
• Biliary stent
• Interventional Radiology