Endoscopic management of bile duct stones: Residual bile duct stones after surgery, cholangitis, and “difficult stones”

SummaryEndoscopic treatment has become, according to the latest recommendations, the standard treatment for common bile duct stones (CBDS), although in certain situations, surgical clearance of the common duct at the time of laparoscopic cholecystectomy is still considered a possible alternative. The purpose of this article is not to compare endoscopic with surgical treatment of CBDS, but to describe the various techniques of endoscopic treatment, detailing their preferential indications and the various treatment options that must sometimes be considered when faced with “difficult calculi” of the CBD. The different techniques of lithotripsy and the role of biliary drainage with plastic or metallic stents will be detailed as well as papillary balloon dilatation and particularly the technique of sphincterotomy with macrodilatation of the sphincter of Oddi (SMSO), a recently described approach that has changed the strategy for endoscopic management of CBDS. Finally, the overall strategy for endoscopic management of CBDS, with description of different techniques, will be exposed.