Fourteen patients with cholecystitis were treated by endoscopic placement of an endoprosthesis into the cystic duct. In these patients the administration of antibiotics had failed to change the clinical picture of cholecystitis. Clinical and ultrasonographic findings before and two months after stenting were compared. There was an improvement in abdominal pain in 9 out of 14 cases (64%); fever, present in 5 patients, disappeared in all. No clinical complications were observed. Sonographic findings in terms of gallbladder wall thickening and sludge present within the gallbladder improved in 57% and 88%, respectively. Our results indicate that this endoscopic procedure may be effective in the treatment of cholecystitis.

IDUS proved useful for assessing the extension of bile duct cancer invasion into the right hepatic artery. However, IDUS did not sufficiently demonstrate the proper hepatic artery and the left hepatic artery for diagnosing vascular involvement.

IDUS proved useful for assessing the extension of cancer invasion into the portal vein, even in proximal bile duct tumors.

IDUS proved useful for assessing the extension of cancer invasion to the pancreatic parenchyma, but not to the pancreatic capsule or mucosal surface.

No abstract