Efficacy of Self-Expandable Absorbable Stents during Liver Transplant to Minimize Early Biliary Complications

We analyzed the use of a self-expandable absorbable biliary stent (SEABS) to reduce biliary complications in liver transplant (LT). Complications related to biliary anastomosis are a still a challenge in LT with a high impact on the patient outcomes and hospital costs. This non-randomized prospective study was conducted between July 2019 and September 2023 in adult LT patients with duct-to-duct biliary anastomoses. The primary endpoint was to assess early biliary complications at 90 days in LT patients with intraoperative SEABS versus no SEABS. We also compared overall biliary complications, costs and SEABS- adverse effects related. A total of 158 patients were included, 78 with SEABS and 80 no-SEABS (22 T-tube and 58 no-stent). There were no adverse effects related to SEABS. Early biliary complications (23.8 vs 2.6%, P