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Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of single-operator peroral cholangioscopy (SOC) in patients with sclerosing cholangitis., Methods: All patients with sclerosing cholangitis who underwent SOC procedures due to suspicious biliary strictures, in one Swedish and four UK tertiary centers in 2008-2012, were retrospectively enrolled. For each SOC procedure in sclerosing cholangitis, another one attempted due to a single biliary stricture in the same center and calendar year was randomly selected as control. Patients were followed up until death or last clinic visit until November 2012., Results: Fifty-four SOC procedures were attempted in 52 sclerosing cholangitis patients (48 with primary sclerosing cholangitis, 4 with IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis). Cannulation with the SOC system failed more frequently in sclerosing cholangitis (15% vs. 2% in controls; p = 0.015). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of SOC (including tissue sampling) for cancer diagnosis were similar in sclerosing cholangitis and controls (50% vs. 55%, 100% vs. 97%, and 88% vs. 80%, respectively) with largely overlapping confidence intervals. Adverse events were more common in sclerosing cholangitis, due to an increased frequency of cholangitis (11% vs. 2% in controls; p = 0.051)., Conclusions: SOC is equally accurate in cancer diagnosis in sclerosing cholangitis and patients with single biliary strictures. However, cholangioscope insertion may be hampered by bile duct narrowing and post-SOC cholangitis is more common in sclerosing cholangitis.

Background and Aim: We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of single-operator peroral cholangioscopy (SOC) for indeterminate biliary lesions and its usefulness in electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) of biliary stones not amenable to conventional endoscopic therapy., Patients and Methods: All patients undergoing SpyGlass SOC in four UK tertiary centres between 2008 and 2010 were retrospectively enrolled. Patients were followed up until death or the last clinic visit until May 2011. The operating characteristics of SOC for detecting malignant lesions and the stone clearance rate after SOC-guided EHL were calculated., Results: A total of 165 patients underwent 179 SOC procedures. Sixty-six percent were referred for indeterminate biliary strictures, 13% for filling defects and 21% for SOC-guided EHL. Cannulation with the SOC system was successful in 95% but visualization was inadequate in 13%. Primary sclerosing cholangitis was a risk factor for failed cannulation and conscious sedation (vs. general anaesthesia) for inadequate visualization (P<0.05). The accuracy of SOC for diagnosing malignant lesions was 87%. SOC-guided biopsies were adequate in 72%. Obtaining at least four versus less than four biopsy specimens resulted more often in adequate samples (90 vs. 64%, P=0.037). Complete stone clearance could be achieved in 73% of patients. The adverse event rate was 9.6%. Cholangitis was the most common event (56%, one fatal)., Conclusion: SOC is useful for the differential diagnosis of indeterminate biliary lesions and the treatment of 'difficult' biliary stones. The adequacy of SOC-guided biopsies is related to the number of specimens obtained. Primary sclerosing cholangitis is related to failed cannulation with the SOC system, whereas general anaesthesia is related to adequate visualization.