Should the Oddis sphincter be retained? A clinical analysis of biliary metal stent implantation in patients with malignant obstructive jaundice

Objective: We sought to analyze the efficacy and safety of preserving the Oddis sphincter during metallic biliary stent implantation in patients with malignant obstructive jaundice. Materials and Methods: In a retrospective analysis, 133 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice who were admitted to our hospital from January 2010 to January 2017 and who underwent metallic biliary stent implantation were divided into two groups – the Oddis sphincter retention group (n = 55) and the Oddis sphincter nonretention group (n = 78) – according to whether the Oddis sphincter was left untouched during stent placement. The patient clinical data as well as information on complications, time of stent patency, improvement in liver function, and decline of serum bilirubin were reviewed and evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA, USA) and Prism version 7 (GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA, USA). Results: The median follow-up time was 9.6 months (range: 1–20 months) and there was no significant difference in general clinical information between the two groups. However, the incidence rates of acute biliary infection, recurrent biliary infection, acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, and asymptomatic pancreatic enzyme levels were higher in the Oddis sphincter retention group and the differences were all statistically significant (P 0.05). Conclusion: Leaving the Oddis sphincter untouched during biliary stent placement can reduce the incidence of postoperative complications, while there was no effect on stent patency or jaundice relief. Therefore, it is recommended to preserve the Oddis sphincter when the stenosis is more than 3 cm above the duodenal papilla.