PurposeWhile surveillance of the majority of patients with IPMN is considered best practice, consensus regarding the duration of follow-up is lacking. This study assessed the survival rate and risk for progression of IPMN under surveillance.MethodsAll patients diagnosed with and surveyed for IPMN between January 2008 and December 2013 were identified and assigned to two groups: patients without indication for surgery (Group 1), and patients whose IPMN required surgery but were inoperable for general reasons (Group 2). Disease progression and survival data were compared between both groups.ResultsIn total 503 patients were identified, of whom 444 (88.3%) were followed up. Group 1 included 395 patients, and Group 2 had 49. In Group 1, IPMN-specific 1-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates were 100, 100, and 94.2%, respectively. Four patients died of associated or concomitant pancreatic cancer, and 230 patients (58.2%) experienced disease progression. The 1-, 4-, 10-year cumulative risk for progression and for surgery was 11.2, 70.6, 97.5, and 2.9, 26.2, 72.1%, respectively. In Group 2, the 1-, 5-, 10-year IPMN-specific survival rate was 90.7, 74.8, and 74.8%, respectively.ConclusionsThis study confirmed the safety of surveillance for patients with IPMN who do not require surgery. However, the risk for disease progression and for surgery increases significantly over time. The study results support International and European guidelines not to discontinue IPMN surveillance and validate the European recommendation to intensify follow-up after 5 years. The fairly good prognosis of patients whose IPMN requires surgery but cannot undergo resection suggests a relatively indolent disease biology.

The human biliary system, a mucosal barrier tissue connecting the liver and intestine, is an organ often affected by serious inflammatory and malignant diseases. Although these diseases are linked to immunological processes, the biliary system represents an unexplored immunological niche. By combining endoscopy-guided sampling of the biliary tree with a high-dimensional analysis approach, comprehensive mapping of the human biliary immunological landscape in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a severe biliary inflammatory disease, was conducted. Major differences in immune cell composition in bile ducts compared to blood were revealed. Furthermore, biliary inflammation in patients with PSC was characterized by high presence of neutrophils and T cells as compared to control individuals without PSC. The biliary T cells displayed a CD103+CD69+ effector memory phenotype, a combined gut and liver homing profile, and produced interleukin-17 (IL-17) and IL-22. Biliary neutrophil infiltration in PSC associated with CXCL8, possibly produced by resident T cells, and CXCL16 was linked to the enrichment of T cells. This study uncovers the immunological niche of human bile ducts, defines a local immune network between neutrophils and biliary-resident T cells in PSC, and provides a resource for future studies of the immune responses in biliary disorders.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a severe chronic liver disease of the small and large bile ducts. The pathogenesis is unknown but a strong immune cell component has been suggested. Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are abundant in human liver and localize around bile ducts. Yet, the role of MAIT cells in PSC remains unclear.Here, we performed a detailed characterization of MAIT cells in circulation and assessed their presence in bile ducts of PSC patients as well as non-PSC controls. We observed a dramatic reduction in MAIT cell levels in PSC patients. High-dimensional phenotypical analysis using stochastic neighbor embedding revealed the MAIT cells to be activated, a phenotype shared by the investigated disease control groups. In line with the noted phenotypic alterations, MAIT cell function was reduced in response to Escherichia coli and to cytokine stimulation in PSC patients as compared to healthy controls. Using a novel sampling approach of human bile ducts, we found MAIT cells to be specifically enriched within bile ducts. Finally, distinct from the dramatic decline observed in circulation, PSCpatients had retained levels of MAIT cells within bile ducts. Altogether, our results provide a detailed insight into how the human MAIT cell compartment is affected in PSC.Keywords: Gut-liver axis r Inflammation r Inflammatory bowel disease r Mucosal-associated invariant T cells r Primary sclerosing cholangitis Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section at the end of the article.

Background and study aims  Preoperative biliary drainage in patients with periampullary tumors and jaundice has been popularized to improve the quality of life and minimize the risks associated with subsequent radical surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible superiority of self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) over plastic stents, by comparing the amount of bacteria in intraoperatively collected bile and using this variable as a proxy for the efficacy of the respective biliary drainage modalities. Patients and methods  In this randomized clinical trial, 92 patients with obstructive jaundice were enrolled; 45 were allocated to the plastic stent group and 47 to the SEMS group. The primary outcome was the extent and magnitude of biliary bacterial growth at the time of surgical exploration. Secondary outcomes were: macroscopic grading of inflammation of the stented bile ducts, occurrence of adverse events after stenting, stent dysfunction, recognized surgical complexities, and incidence of postoperative complications. Results  The patients were well matched regarding clinical and disease-specific characteristics. At surgery, there were no group differences in the bacterial amount and composition of the bile cultures or the perceived difficulty of surgical dissection. During the preoperative biliary drainage period, more instances of stent dysfunction requiring stent replacement were recorded in the plastic stent group (19 % vs. 0 %; P  = 0.03). Postoperative complications in patients who underwent curative surgery were more common in patients with plastic stents (72 % vs. 52 %), among which clinically significant leakage from the pancreatic anastomoses seemed to predominate (12 % vs. 3.7 %); however, none of these differences in postoperative adverse events reached statistical significance. Conclusion  This randomized clinical study was unable to demonstrate any superiority of SEMS in the efficacy of preoperative bile drainage, as assessed by the amount of bacteria in the intraoperatively collected bile. However, some data in favor of SEMS were observed among the clinical secondary outcomes variables (preoperative stent exchange rates) without increases in local inflammatory reactions.

Background Single-operator, per-oral cholangiopancreatoscopy (SOPCP) enables direct biliopancreatic ductal visualization, targeted tissue sampling, and therapeutic intervention. At Karolinska University Hospital, SOPCP was introduced early and has since been extensively utilized according to a standardized protocol. We analysed the clinical value of SOPCP in the diagnosis and treatment of biliopancreatic diseases in a single high volume center. Methods All SOPCP procedures performed between March 2007 and December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Each procedure’s diagnostic yield and therapeutic value was evaluated using a predefined 4 grade scale; 1 - no diagnostic or therapeutic value, 2 - information gained did not impact clinical decision-making and in case of a therapeutic intervention, did not alter the clinical course of the patient, 3 - information gained had an impact on clinical decision-making and in the case of a therapeutic intervention, assisted subsequent disease management, and finally, 4 - information gained was essential and critical for clinical decision-making and in case of a therapeutic intervention, solved the clinical problem requiring no further therapeutic actions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse results, with uni- and multivariate analyses completed to assess risk of adverse events. Results During the study period, 365 SOPCP procedures were performed. We found SOPCP of pivotal importance (grade 4) in 19% of cases, and of great clinical significance (grade 3) in 44% of cases. SOPCP did not affect clinical decision-making or alter clinical course (grade 1 and 2) in 37% of cases. Conclusion SOPCP offers direct access to the biliopancreatic ducts for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, adding significant clinical value in 64% of cases. Trial registration As this is a purely observational and retrospectively registered study in which the assignment of the medical intervention was not at the discretion of the investigator, it has not been registered in a registry.

Background and study aims Conventional endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is hampered by two-dimensional visualization, post-procedural adverse events (AEs), and exposure to ionizing radiation. Bimodal ERCP might mitigate these challenges, but no reports of its use are available to date. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of bimodal ERCP, while investigating its potential clinical yield. Patients and methods This was a retrospective observational study of patients that underwent bimodal ERCP in a single tertiary academic referral center. Thirteen patients undergoing conventional ERCP had a previously T2-weighted isotropic 3 D TSE MRCP sequence aligned and fused with the two-dimensional image generated from the fluoroscopy c-arm unit in real time. Results Over a 2-month period, 13 patients with a mean age of 54 underwent bimodal ERCP for bile duct stricture (61.5 %), complex cholelithiasis (7.7 %) and ductal leakage (30.1 %). Bimodal ERCP was feasible in all 13 cases, and image quality was assessed as “good” in 11 patients (84.6 %). Bimodal ERCP aided in visualizing the lesion of interest (76.9 %), assisted in understanding the 3 D anatomy of the biliopancreatic ductal system (61.5 %), and aided in finding a favorable position for the c-arm (38.4 %) for subsequent therapeutic intervention. Conclusions This first report on bimodal ERCP proves its feasibility and suggests that it may assist in increasing both the diagnostic and therapeutic yield of ERCP, while at the same time decreasing AEs during and after ERCP. Its main application might lie in treatment of complex intrahepatic disease.

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