The failure rate of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for biliary cannulation is approximately 6%-7% in cases of obstructive jaundice. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) is the procedure of choice in such cases. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EGBD) is a novel technique that allows biliary drainage by echoendoscopy and fluoroscopy using a stent from the biliary tree to the gastrointestinal tract. Information in PubMed, Scopus, clinicaltrials.gov and Cochrane review were analyzed to obtain studies comparing EGBD and PTBD. Six studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Technical (odds ratio (OR): 0.34; confidence interval (CI) 0.10-1.14; p=0.05) and clinical (OR: 1.48; CI 0.46-4.79; p=0.51) success rates were not statistically significant between the EGBD and PTBD groups. Mild adverse events were nonsignificantly different (OR: 0.36; CI 0.10-1.24; p=0.11) but not the moderate-to-severe adverse events (OR: 0.16; CI 0.08-0.32; p≤0.00001) and total adverse events (OR: 0.34; CI 0.20-0.59; p≤0.0001). EGBD is equally effective but safer than PTBD.
Keywords: clinical success; endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage; failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage; technical success.