Effect of endoscopic sphincterotomy on sphincter of Oddi manometry results in patients with or without papillary stenosis.

Patients with fibrotic papillary stenosis (PS) are at high risk for sphincter of Oddi-re-stenosis after endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES). Therefore, a prospective trial was conducted to assess the acute and long-term effects of ES on sphincter of Oddi motor function in patients with papillary stenosis. The immediate effects of ES were studies by endoscopic manometry in 12 patients with PS, and in 15 patients with common bile duct stones (CBDS, control group). Furthermore, after a median follow-up of 15 months, 11 from those 12 patients with papillary stenosis were reinvestigated with ERCP and manometry. Complete ES (defined by a common bile duct pressure and a basal sphincter of Oddi-pressure (BSOP) < 5 mm Hg) was achieved in 13/15 CBDS-patients, but only in 3/12 patients with PS (p<0.01), although sphincterotomy was extended to the maximal length as judged endoscopically. Four patients with PS had a residual BSOP > 20 mm Hg. However, all patients with PS became symptom-free immediately after ES. The phasic sphincter motility was not affected significantly different in both groups of patients (p = 0.25). Those patients with a residual BSOP > 20 mm Hg after ES developed sphincter of Oddi-re-stenosis during the follow-up (3 patients) or revealed re-stenosis at the control examination after follow-up (1 patient). After the follow-up manometrically defined complete sphincterotomy was furtheron demonstrable in only 2/11 patients with papillary stenosis. In conclusion, ES revealed a decreased efficacy to eliminate the sphincter of Oddi motor function in a substantial number of patients with papillary stenosis. This may explain the remarkably high rate of sphincter of Oddi-re-stenosis after sphincterotomy in these patients.