Endoscopic Ultrasound-guided Gallbladder Drainage: Current Status and Future Prospects

Early surgical treatment using the laparoscopic approach is generally accepted as the treatment of choice for acute cholecystitis (AC) according to Tokyo Guidelines 2018 (TG2018). If the patient is a poor candidate for surgery because of the presence of advanced malignancy or severe organ failure, this treatment may be too invasive. In such cases, gallbladder drainage is considered an alternative treatment method to surgery. Several drainage methods have been established, such as percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) or endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage (ETGBD) under endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), including endoscopic naso-gallbladder drainage (ENGBD) and endoscopic gallbladder stenting (EGBS). PTGBD is a well-established procedure that is relatively easily carried out by general clinicians. And ETGBD has been developed as an alternative drainage method. The procedure also calls for guidewire passage across the cystic duct. Therefore, in AC cases who are contraindicated for surgery, PTGBD should be considered before ETGBD, and ETGBD may be considered only in high-volume institutes where expert hands are available, as described in the TG2018. However, there are several limitations to these procedures. Recently, endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD) is increasingly being done as an alternative method to PTGBD and ETGBD. In this review, the current status and problems of EUS-GBD are reviewed, including technical review and clinical data of previous papers, current indication, long-term outcome, and comparison data with PTGBD or ETGBD, and their future prospects are discussed.