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RecruitingNCT06816615Updated Feb 10, 2025

Diagnosis and Percutaneous Treatment of Biliary Tract Diseases

An interventional study of Percutaneous cholangioscopic-assisted treatment in Gallstone, Biliary Stricture and Biliary Diseases, sponsored by IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna. Recruiting at 1 site in Italy. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-02-10.

Sponsored by IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 2 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Oct 2022, registered Jan 2025).
  • Started Oct 2022; still recruiting 4 years later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
24
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study aims to implement and optimize the treatment of bile duct diseases in participants not eligible for endoscopic treatment using the Spyglass system, a system suitable for diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures in the pancreatic-biliary system, including the hepatic ducts.

The main question it aims to answer is:

- Can the percutaneous cholangioscopic assisted technique resolve the biliary litiasis and/or perform endobiliary biopsies in less time than the traditional technique?

Participants will undergo a colangioscopic-assisted treatment using the SpyGlass mini-endoscopic system at the Addomino-pelvic diagnostic and interventional radiology UOC of the Bologna University Hospital.

Read the detailed description

This is a pilot, spontaneous, non-pharmacological, prospective and single-center interventional study aimed at participants with bile duct diseases not eligible for endoscopic treatment, who, once enrolled, will undergo percutaneous colangioscopic-assisted treatment at the Addominal-pelvic diagnostic and interventional radiology UOC of the University Hospital of Bologna. After a 24-month enrollment phase, a 36-month follow-up phase will be undertaken to assess the functional and therapeutic outcomes of this approach.

The enrollment and the collection of informed consent will be carried out by the Radiologists involved in the study who will also take care of the collection of clinical data and the review of all pseudoanymous radiological images pre/post treatment in order to evaluate the outcome of percutaneous treatment, the number of treatments, the duration of drainage stay, the relapse-free interval and the length of hospitalization. Participants in the study will undergo treatments commonly used in daily clinical practice, including biliary clearance and/or endobiliary biopsy.

02

Conditions studied

  • Gallstone
  • Biliary Stricture
  • Biliary Diseases
03

In context

Gallstones

354 studies on the registry are indexed under Gallstones; 47 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 24 is below the median of 94 across 237 interventional studies indexed under Gallstones.

Browse Gallstones studies →

Lead sponsor

IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna is the lead sponsor of 509 studies on the registry; 285 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
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

  • Radiological diagnosis of indeterminate gallstones or stenosis of the bile ducts not eligible for endoscopic treatment and/or previous failed endoscopic treatment
  • Good liver function (hemoglobin, hematocrit, GOT, GPT, GGT within normal ranges)
  • Age over 18
  • Obtaining informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • presence of severe untreatable coagulopathies
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
24 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Patients with bile duct disease not eligible for endoscopic treatment

    Before the procedure all patients will be submitted to US and/or CT and/or MRI and will be evaluated for hemoglobin, hematocrit and liver function tests. Patients with biliary tract disorders that are not eligible for endoscopic treatment and/or previous failed endoscopic treatment will be evaluated for inclusion in this study. Therefore, a case-by-case discussion will be conducted with the reference hepatologists/surgeons to assess treatment assignment. Once enrolled in the study, patients will undergo cholangioscopic-assisted treatment at the UOC addomino-pelvic diagnostic and interventional radiology unit of the Bologna University Hospital. After the procedure, patients will be required to perform a clinical laboratory monitoring in subsequent follow-up controls that will be performed 3-6-12-24-36 months after treatment. Additional imaging examinations (US, CT or MRI) will only be scheduled if symptoms recur.

    Procedure: Percutaneous cholangioscopic-assisted treatment

Interventions

  • ProcedurePercutaneous cholangioscopic-assisted treatment

    The intervention administered is a percutaneous colangioscopic assisted technique that uses endoscopic Spyglass system. The endoscopic Spyglass system is designed to provide direct viewing and to guide both optical devices and accessories for lithotripsy in case of litiasic pathology and is equipped with a suitable bioptic clamp in case of biopsy collection. The use of the digital Spyglass catheter involves the preliminary percutaneous puncture of the bile ducts with a right, left or combined approach, and the subsequent execution of a cholangiographic study. Additional treatment sessions may be performed every 15-20 days in case of residual lithiasis. At the end of each session, an internal-external transeptic percutaneous drainage (ptbd) of adequate caliber (8-14 fr) is left in place to monitor any complications and maintain a route of access for sequential treatments.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of treatments

    Number of treatments

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 years

  2. Duration of drainage

    Duration of drainage

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 years

  3. Relapse free interval

    Relapse free interval

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 years

  4. Duration of hospitalization

    Duration of hospitalization

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 years

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna
    Bologna, BO 40138, Italy
    Recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 10, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06816615
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 10, 2025
Start date
Oct 14, 2022
Primary completion
Dec 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 10, 2025

Study contacts

Alberta Cappelli, MD
Contact
alberta.cappelli@aosp.bo.it
+39 051 6362598
Alberta Cappelli, MD
principal investigator · IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna

Oversight

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

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