Abstract:Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of endoscopic ultrasound‑guided antegrade procedures (EUS‑AG) versus single‑balloon enteroscopy‑assisted endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (SB-ERC) for patients with surgically altered anatomy and bile duct stones (BDSs). Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on the data of 52 patients with surgically altered anatomy who were treated with EUS-AG (n=8) or SB-ERC (n=44) in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from September 2020 to February 2024. The technical success rate, complete stone removal rate, clinical Temission rate, procedure time, postoperative adverse event rates, postoperative hospital stay, and hospital cost of the two groups were compared by using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Results After applying IPTW to correct between-group biases, the technical success rates of EUS-AG and SB-ERC were 100.0% (43.3/43.3) and 85.5% (44.1/51.6), respectively (χ2=0.11, P=0.035). The procedure time was significantly shorter in the EUS-AG group than that in the SB-ERC group (56.3±10.1 min VS 76.6±29.0 min, t=4.34, P0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in complete stone removal rate [100.0% (43.3/43.3) VS 100.0% (44.1/44.1), P=1.000], clinical remission rate [100.0% (43.3/43.3) VS 95.7% (49.4/51.6), χ2=1.17, P=0.221], postoperative hospital stay [2.0 (2.0, 4.4) days VS 4.0 (3.0, 6.0) days, Z=-2.05, P=0.197], or hospital cost [25.5(24.7,29.0)thousand yuan VS 26.4(19.6,30.3)thousand yuan, Z=-0.16, P=0.551]. The number of mild postoperative adverse event before weighting in the two groups was 5 and 14 respectively, and the severe postoperative adverse event was 0 and 1 respectively. After weighting, the mild postoperative adverse event rates were 46.2% (20.0/43.3) and 34.5% (17.8/51.6), respectively (χ2=0.36, P=0.639), and the severe postoperative adverse event rates were 0.0% (0.0/43.3) and 1.9% (1.0/51.6), respectively (χ2=0.80, P=0.381). Conclusion Compared with SB-ERC, EUS-AG demonstrates a higher technical success rate, a shorter procedure time and a comparable postoperative adverse event incidence. Therefore, EUS-AG can be considered as a first-line treatment option for stone extraction in patients with surgically altered anatomy.