Abstract:
Background and Aims: It is a challenge to collect samples from bile duct strictures to diagnose patients with cholangiocarcinoma. We investigated the utility of the Spyglass Spyscope, a single-operator endoscope that is used to perform cholangiopancreatoscopy, to identify extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in patients who were not diagnosed with this disorder by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) cytology or endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) analyses. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from 30 patients (median age, 67 years; 67percent male) with indeterminate extrahepatic biliary strictures who were ultimately diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma but had inconclusive results from initial biliary ductal brush cytology and EUS-FNA analyses. Patients then underwent cholangioscopy by using the Spyglass Spyscope and intraductal biopsy analysis. None of the patients had a definitive mass in abdominal imaging or EUS analyses. Results: The biliary stricture was located in the common bile duct in 13 patients and in the common hepatic duct in 17 patients. The Spyglass Spyscope system had 77percent accuracy (23 of 30) in the diagnosis of malignancies that were inconclusive on the basis of ERCP-guided brush or EUS-FNA analyses. Conclusions: The Spyglass Spyscope for cholangioscopy and biopsy collection identified malignancies with 77percent accuracy in patients with suspected cholangiocarcinoma. © 2012 AGA Institute.