Recent advances in the creation of endoscopic ultrasound guided digestive and bilio-pancreatic anastomoses

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided digestive anastomosis (EUS-A) constitutes a booming therapy. EUS-guided biliary drainage has been developed for the treatment of malignant biliary obstruction with high technical and clinical success rates. EUS-A is a recently developed technique, it consists in the creation of an anastomosis within two digestive lumens using lumen-apposing metal stents. This will provide an endoscopic access to the biliopancreatic region by passing an endoscope through the anastomosis, or the restoration of the biliopancreatic or alimentary flows. There is no consensus on the place of these technique due to the heterogeneity within different approaches regarding technical and clinical aspects, with uncertain long-term results regarding the effectiveness and complications.

Key words : stent, anastomosis, endoscopic ultrasound.