Assessing the diagnostic yield of controllable biopsy-forceps for biliary strictures

AbstractObjective: Biliary forceps biopsies are essential for differentially diagnosing biliary strictures and evaluating the preoperative superficial intraductal spread of bile duct cancers; however, these biopsies are technically demanding and time consuming. Using controllable biopsy-forceps (C-BF), which enable the tip’s angle to be adjusted by up to 90°, may facilitate the procedure and improve the diagnostic yield for biliary biopsies. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of C-BF associated with the diagnosis of biliary strictures.Materials and method: Between 2009 and 2015, 110 patients with biliary strictures underwent biliary biopsies using C-BF. We retrospectively evaluated the diagnostic yield of C-BF for biliary strictures and determined the success rate associated with obtaining adequate samples during mapping biopsies to evaluate the superficial intraductal tumor spread.Results: The technical success rate for biliary biopsies using C-BF was 99% (109/110). The sensitivity, specificity and...