EUS-guided Versus Laparoscopic Gastrojejunostomy for Malignant Gastric Outlet Obstruction

Gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) is a common complication of various types of malignancy arising from the pancreas, bile ducts, retroperitoneum and distal stomach. As these tumours grow they may invade or compress the distal stomach or gastric outlet causing patients to develop the classical manifestations of GOO including vomiting, weight loss, electrolyte disturbances loss of quality of life as well as a reduced life expectancy. Until recently these patients were managed using either endoscopic stenting or surgery. Laparoscopic gastrojejunostomy (L-GJ) has been regarded as the golden standard in the management of GOO. However surgery is invasive and may lead to peri-operative complications and longer hospitalization which further greatly impacts on the quality of life of these patients in which survival is already greatly impaired by their oncological problem. Recently it has been shown that a special stent can be utilized to circumvent the tumour obstruction without the need for surgery. This technique utilizes endoscopic ultrasound to connect the stomach to the jejunum at a site distal to the tumour obstruction. This techniques is minimally invasive compared to surgery. In a large retrospective propensity matched study we recently compared endoscopic ultrasound placement of an AXIOS stent to laparoscopic surgery and could show that the EUS-guided approach led to less complications (2.6 vs 26%) and shorter hospital stay compared to surgery.1 Our study and that of other groups, has led the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) to recommend that EUS-guided gastrojejunostomy (EUS-GJ) can be considered for patients with malignant GOO as an alternative for surgery and endoscopic stenting, acknowledging that further randomized controlled trials comparing the EUS-GJ approach to surgery, are necessary.2 Based on the above clinical need we set out to design a multicentre international trial with the main aim of comparing EUS-guided gastrojejunostomy to lap