Pancreatic pseudocysts drained through a percutaneous transgastric approach: further experience.

Abstract

Percutaneous transgastric placement of a drainage catheter under ultrasonographic and fluoroscopic guidance was performed in 12 patients with pancreatic pseudocysts. Complete resolution of the pseudocysts was obtained in eight patients, and the result was indeterminate in one patient due to early death from unrelated causes. Surgical intervention followed in two patients, one with a multiloculated pseudocyst that was incompletely drained and another with a pseudocyst that became infected following drainage. In one patient with metastatic tumor to the head of the pancreas the pseudocyst resolved initially, but a pseudocyst later recurred. There were no pancreaticocutaneous fistulas or other major complications. The transgastric route of pseudocyst drainage is safe and effective, and it offers a low risk of recurrence and fistula formation.