Bilioenteric anastomotic stricture in patients with benign and malignant tumors: prevalence,risk factors and treatment

Bilioenteric anastomosis is a classic surgical procedure performed to reestablish biliary continuity in the setting of various diseases. However, anastomotic stricture sometimes develops and, if unrecognized or managed improperly, can cause serious complications,such as biliary cirrhosis, portal hypertension, hepatic failure and recurrent cholangitis.[1, 2] Most cases of anastomotic stricture reported in the literature have occurred after liver transplantation or bile duct injury during laparoscopic cholesystectomy.[3-5] In contrast, there are only sparse reports on anastomotic stricture development after surgical treatment of benign and malignant tumors.[6-12] There are two reasons that account for these phenomena: a low incidence rate of anastomotic stricture,ranging from 2%-11.9%, and its late development after discharge (from 12 days to 106 months).[6-11] Risk factors for anastomotic stricture have been discussed in some articles;[6, 7, 10, 11, 13] of these, however, one researched