ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04823832Updated Apr 1, 2021

Endoscopic Versus Percutaneous Biliary Drainage for Resectable Pancreatic Head Cancer

An interventional study of pancreaticoduodenectomy in Pancreatic Head Cancer and Obstructive Jaundice, sponsored by Hani Alhadad. Completed at 1 site in Egypt. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-04-01.

Sponsored by Hani Alhadad · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 1 month after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2019, registered Feb 2021).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
80
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Patients with potentially resectable pancreatic head cancer and high bilirubin level, were stratified into two equal groups according to the method of biliary drainage: endoscopic stenting or percutaneous drainage.

Read the detailed description

Along with history taking and complete clinical examination, the results of complete blood count, international normalized ratio , renal and liver function tests were obtained. Patients with coagulopathy were corrected by fresh frozen plasma and repeated vitamin K injections to reach an INR of at least 1.4 before the intervention, otherwise, they were excluded. Besides, ultrasound and computed tomography of the abdomen/pelvis (pancreatic protocol) were routinely undertaken. Tumors were staged for resectability according to TNM staging system.

Patients were randomly divided by closed envelope method into two groups; patients were allocated to the first group (ERCP) who underwent Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography coupled with placement of a 10-French plastic stent; and to the second group (PTD) who underwent Fluoroscopy-guided Percutaneous Transhepatic Drainage.

Preoperative biliary drainage Parenteral broad spectrum antibiotics were administered prior and after each intervention. ERCP was performed under general anesthesia in the operation room and a 10-french (3.2 mm) covered polyethylene stent with side flaps to prevent migration was placed below the level of biliary bifurcation. Stents were inserted over a guidewire via an Olympus 4.2 mm channel endoscope, by standard techniques.

PTD was placed in the interventional radiology department under local anesthesia via the left duct sub-xiphoid approach, only via the external approach. A 6 french gauge catheter was positioned with its tip above the biliary obstruction. After PTD, patients were instructed to drink a lot of fluids to replace fluid loss or they were given temporary intravenous fluid supplementation.

After either procedure, patients were either discharged home or kept in hospital. Those who were discharged were readmitted for preoperative preparation. Patients were followed up clinically as well as by laboratory results. The total and direct bilirubin level and other liver function tests were repeated after ten days from the procedure to estimate the decline in their levels. Post-intervention complications either PTD-related such as bleeding, cholangitis, bile leak and catheter occlusion/displacement; or ERCP-related such as pancreatitis, cholangitis, bleeding and stent displacement; were recorded.

Surgery After improvement of liver functions, patients were scheduled for PD. All operations were performed through a hockey-stick incision by consultant surgeons experienced in pancreatic surgery. The standard surgical procedure was pancreaticoduodenectomy with pylorus preservation. The effects of pre-operative drainage were evaluated during the operation in terms of operative resection time, blood loss, difficulties of dissection and intra-operative bleeding. While the endoscopic stent is removed intra-operatively after transection of the common hepatic duct, the catheter of PTD is left and inserted in the hepaticojejunostomy (stented anastomosis) to be removed two weeks later. Perioperative complications (\< 30 days) were stratified for each group according to Clavien-Dindo classification.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pancreatic Head Cancer
  • Obstructive Jaundice

Browse trials for

03

In context

Jaundice, Obstructive

62 studies on the registry are indexed under Jaundice, Obstructive; 15 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 80 is close to the median of 75 across 40 interventional studies indexed under Jaundice, Obstructive.

Browse Jaundice, Obstructive studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Hani Alhadad as lead sponsor.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients with malignant obstruction of the distal common bile duct e.g. adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head or periampullary tumor
  • Hyperbilirubinemia, total level more than 10 mg/dL
  • Cholangitis, pruritis, coagulopathy, nausea and anorexia

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with advanced disease
  • disease
  • Patients undergoing therapy
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(3)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
80 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    ERCP group

    endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography with plastic stent insertion

    Procedure: pancreaticoduodenectomy

  • Active comparator
    PTD group

    ultrasound guided percutaneous transhepatic catheter insertion

    Procedure: pancreaticoduodenectomy

Interventions

  • Procedurepancreaticoduodenectomy

    resection of the head of pancreas and the duodenum followed by triple anastomosis

    Also known as: whipple operation

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. number of participants with operative difficulties as assessed by the operating surgeon

    measuring the difficulty of dissection, number of operative complications encountered

    Time frame: up to 6 hours at the time of surgery

  2. number of participants with post operative complications

    detection of postoperative complications in the early postoperative period

    Time frame: up to one month

Secondary outcomes

  1. number of participants with postprocedural complications

    detection of postprocedure complications

    Time frame: up to one month after each procedure

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Faculty of Medicine
    Alexandria, Egypt
08

References and documents

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — to keep the confidentiality of each patient

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Jan 2019 to primary completion in Dec 2020, 23 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Feb 23, 2021
First posted
Apr 1, 2021
StartActual
Jan 1, 2019
Primary completionActual
Dec 31, 2020
CompletionActual
Dec 31, 2020
Last update
Apr 1, 2021
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 1, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04823832
Lead sponsor
Hani Alhadad
Responsible party
Hani Alhadad (assistant professor, Alexandria University) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Apr 1, 2021
Start date
Jan 1, 2019
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2020
Completion
Dec 31, 2020
Last update
Apr 1, 2021

Study contacts

Wael N Abdelsalam, doctor
study director · dean of faculty

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion