Inamdar S, et al. Comparison of Adverse Events for Endoscopic vs Percutaneous Biliary Drainage in the Treatment of Malignant Biliary Tract Obstruction in an Inpatient National Cohort. JAMA Oncol. 2016 Jan;2(1):112-7.

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Results: A total of 7445 patients were included for ERCP and 1690 for PTBD. The overall adverse event rate was 8.6% for endoscopic drainage (640 events) and 12.3% for percutaneous biliary drainage (208 events) (P < .001). When analyzed by type of malignant neoplasm, ERCP was associated with a lower rate of adverse events compared with PTBD for pancreatic cancer (2.9% vs 6.2%; odds ratio [OR], 0.46 [95% CI, 0.35-0.61]; P < .001) and cholangiocarcinoma (2.6% vs 4.2% OR, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.35-1.10]; P = .10). For pancreatic cancer, endoscopic procedures were associated with a lower rate of adverse events regardless of the volume of percutaneous procedures performed by a center. For cholangiocarcinoma, centers that performed a low volume of percutaneous biliary drainage procedures were more likely to have adverse events compared with endoscopic procedures performed at the same center (5.7% vs 2.5%; OR, 2.28 [95% CI, 1.02-5.11]; P = .04). In centers that performed a high volume of percutaneous drainage procedures, rates of adverse events were similar to those of endoscopic adverse events (3.5% vs 3.0%; OR, 1.18 [95% CI, 0.53-2.66]; P = .68).

Conclusions and relevance: Our results support the finding that endoscopic biliary drainage for malignant biliary obstruction is a first-line intervention. Endoscopic drainage is superior to percutaneous drainage, in regard to adverse event rate, for patients with pancreatic cancer. For patients with cholangiocarcinoma, endoscopic drainage is superior in centers that perform a low volume of percutaneous biliary drainage procedures.