Clinical Trial: Safety and Efficacy of a Newly Developed Baby-sphincterotome for Bile Duct Cannulation

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Safety and Efficacy of a New Baby-sphincterotome for Cannulation and Pre-cut in Failed Selective Wire-guided Bile Duct Access

Brief Summary: Precut-sphincterotomy is a well established alternative after repeated futile attempts for common bile duct (CBD) cannulation with standard catheters and/or guide-wires fail. Commonly used devices instruments for pre-cutting are the needle-knife and the Erlangen-type precut-sphincterotome. In 1996 a so called "baby-sphincterotome" (Easy-Cut®, MTW, Wesel, Germany) with a pre-shaped-bended (to facilitate biliary access) small-calibre 3-French tip was developed, which enables cannulation and pre-cutting in one step. Here the investigators report on the clinical evaluation of this device.

Detailed Summary:

Interventional procedures at the bile or pancreatic duct require selective cannulation of the desired duct and sometimes endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES). If it is not possible to achieve selective access to the desired duct, which occurs in about 10-33 % of the cases (1-4), the next step to ensure selective cannulation is a so-called pre-cut procedure (5-8). For this approach a needle knife or an Erlangen-type sphincterotome are used to perform pre-cut sphincterotomy (PCS). This pre-cut technique has been shown to be effective especially to obtain selective bile duct access in the majority of the cases whenever standard cannulation techniques fail. However, the reported complication rate for PCS is substantially higher than for conventional ES (9), but may be outweighed by the clinical benefits. A limitation of the PCS-procedure is the need to use a dedicated instrument (either the needle knife or the Erlangen-type sphincterotome) for this indication. After completion of the pre-cut procedure routinely the attempt access to the desired duct has to be performed with other accessories since most pre-cut-sphincterotomes did do not allow contrast injection or guide-wire insertion. A change of instruments before and after PCS prolongs procedure time and increases cost. Therefore a "universal" instrument designed for both bile duct cannulation and precutting would substantially simplify the procedure.

In 1999 the investigators described a newly developed "baby"-sphincterotome that combines the features of a cannulating catheter and Erlangen-type precut-papillotome. In a first series of patients this device was found to be useful for direct cannulation as well as for precut procedures (10).

The aim of this trial was to investigate the safety and efficacy of this newly developed baby-sphincterotome in cases of f
Sponsor: Ruhr University of Bochum

Current Primary Outcome: Number of Participants with successfull bile duct cannulation [ Time Frame: Time-to-Event Outcome Measures from the beginning of the intervention until the end of the endoscopic procedure, participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 3-5 days ]

The baby-sphincterotome was used in patients in whom biliary sphincterotomy was clinically indicated but in whomafter standard techniques to gain biliary access had failed (study population).


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome: Postinterventional compilation rate (bleeding, pancreatitis) [ Time Frame: Immediate or delayed complications. Time-to-Event Outcome Measures: from the beginning of the intervention till signs bleeding or panceatitis will occur. Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 3-5 days ]

The severity of post-ERCP-pancreatitis was graded according to the Cotton criteria (Cotton et al.). Mild post-sphincterotomy bleeding was any bleeding episode detected after ES or PCS that necessitatinge an endoscopic maneuver like injection or clipping whithin the same session.


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Ruhr University of Bochum

Dates:
Date Received: November 20, 2011
Date Started: June 2000
Date Completion:
Last Updated: December 14, 2011
Last Verified: December 2011