Proposed Standards for Reporting Outcomes of Treating Biliary Injuries

BACKGROUND:There is no standard nor widely accepted way of reporting outcomes of treatment of biliary injuries. This hinders comparison of results among approaches and among centers. This paper presents a proposal to standardize terminology and reporting of results of treating biliary injuries.METHODS:The proposal was developed by an international group of surgeons, biliary endoscopists and interventional radiologists. The method is based on the concept of "patency" and is similar to the approach used to create reporting standards for arteriovenous hemodialysis access.RESULTS:The group considered definitions and gradings under the following headings: Definition of Patency, Definition of Index Treatment Periods, Grading of Severity of Biliary Injury, Grading of Patency, Metrics, Comparison of Surgical to Non Surgical Treatments and Presentation of Case Series.CONCLUSIONS:A standard procedure for reporting outcomes of treating biliary injuries has been produced. It is applicable to presenting results of treatment by surgery, endoscopy, and interventional radiology.