Percutaneous antegrade electropapillotomy. Study in dogs.

Antegrade electropapillotomy using the percutaneous transcystic approach was successfully performed in 11 of 16 dogs. When the intervention was effective, the pressure gradient between common bile duct and duodenum decreased from 6 to 1.3 mm Hg on average and returned to gradients slightly below the initial values after 4 weeks, owing to reactivation of the sphincter mechanism. Ineffective cutting, however, resulted in a temporary pressure rise. In one dog a papillary stenosis developed and was relieved by antegrade electrocutting. Irrespective of the success of the papillotomy, rises in levels of serum glutamine oxaloacetic and pyruvic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, serum amylase and leukocytes were seen. Although the method is technically feasible, its clinical significance is not so much for antegrade papillotomy but rather for transhepatic incision of stenoses after hepaticojejunostomy.