The outcome of cholangitis after percutaneous biliary drainage in neoplastic jaundice

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate factors affecting the outcome of cholangitis after PTBD in jaundiced cancer patients. Twenty nine patients with neoplastic jaundice (male/female ratio 13/16, median age 55 years) with full clinical data, were treated by PTBD and developed cholangitis at a median of 9 days later. Four patients (14%) died of biliary sepsis a median of one month after PTBD while the other 25 survived a median of 6 months, with one week median duration of cholangitis. The probability of the cholangitis resolving was analyzed by time to resolution and it was found that 50% and 100% of the recoveries occurred 5 and 9 months respectively from the onset of the complication. The series was analyzed to determine the role of several variables (disease/patient/treatment related) in the resolution of cholangitis. Only a low stricture site, a large initial drainage catheter (10F) and a temperature increase exceeding 39° C were correlated with a positive outcome. We conclude that PTBD-related cholangitis has, in our experience, a good chance of cure, low mortality rate and satisfactory 6 months median survival.