Endoscopic sphincterotomy for suspected choledocholithiasis in patients with and without stones.

Objective: To characterize a subgroup of patients treated with endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) for a suspected common bile duct lithiasis (CBDL) that was not confirmed and to compare it with the subgroup with confirmed CBDL. Methods and Results: Over 18 months, ES was successful in 245 consecutive patients (age 23-97, mean 75 yr, SE 17 yr) with suspected CBDL; 159 patients had CBDL (group 1), and 86 did not (group 2), as confirmed by CBD exploration. Fifty-nine percent of the patients in group 1 and 76.7 % of the patients in group 2 had gallbladder in situ. Both groups were different for age (p < 0.001), prevalence of chronic alcoholism (p < 0.001), gallbladder in situ (p < 0.01), and gallbladder stones (p < 0.05). Patients from group 1 had two or more presenting symptoms suggestive of CBDL more often than patients from group 2 (p < 0.05), and pancreatitis was a more frequent presenting manifestation in group 2 (p < 0.0001). Overall morbidity and mortality were not different between groups, but acute cholecystitis developed in six patients from group 2 and in one patient from group 1 (p < 0.01). In a univariate analysis, only elevated alkaline phosphatase and a dilated common bile duct were positively discriminant for the diagnosis of CBDL; chronic alcoholism was negatively discriminant for the diagnosis of CBDL. In a multivariate analysis, only chronic alcoholism and a dilated bile duct were found to be independently discriminant. Conclusion: The risk of ES-related complications in the group without CBDL suggests that the selection of patients should be improved by a better use of preoperative criteria.