Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration as a Rescue Procedure for Failed Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography: A Case Report

Across the world, choledocholithiasis is presently treated by a two staged approach of Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio- Pancreatography (ERCP) followed by Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (LC); in a vast majority of the situations. Modern day literature abounds with comparative outcomes studies between ERCP and Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration (LCBDE), as therapeutic modalities for Common Bile Duct (CBD) stones. There are strong arguments both in favour and against both these treatment options, in literature. As per literature, the advantage of LCBDE is that it is a single stage procedure, but requires advanced laparoscopic expertise and a choledochoscope in the setup. The advantage of ERCP is that it is a highly standardised procedure. In expert hands and well equipped setups, it rarely ever fails to deliver. However, ERCP is also a highly operator dependant procedure. Also, in the best of hands, sometimes, local factors such as abnormal anatomy, stone morphology can lead to failures or suboptimal results. As per literature, ERCP to extract CBD stones can fail for various reasons such as failed cannulation, previous Billroth II gastrectomy, large CBD stones, large number of CBD stones etc. The failure in retrieving CBD stones by ERCP is an absolute indication for performing CBDE. Here, authors present a case report of a 73-year-old male with failed ERCP (inspite of two attempts) due to a large, solitary but tightly impacted terminal CBD stone. It hopes to convey the message that in similar situations, LCBDE, tactically using some endoscopy accessories, is a sound backup therapeautic option, inspite of non availability of a choledochoscope in the setup. The novelty of this case was that instead of the standard use of choledochoscope to directly visually confirm the completeness of stone clearance during the LCBDE, intraoperative fluoroscopy has been used effectively for the same; by obtaining good quality proximal and distal occlusion cholangiograms at the end of the procedure.