Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Complications: Unit Experience

Aims Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) represents one of the major therapeutic advances in digestive endoscopy. The indications for ERCP, initially diagnostic, are now mainly therapeutic. An assessment of the risks and complications of this technique is essential and allows their prevention.

The aim of our work was to assess complications of ERCP in our practice.

Methods It was a retrospective single-center study, including patients who underwent ERCP, within the period from June 2019 to September 2020, and presented a complication related to ERCP.

Results We have recorded 200 CPRE during the study period. Seventeen patients (8.5 %) presented a post-CPRE complication. The average age was 51 years. There were 13 females (76.5 %) and 4 males (23.5 %) with a sex-ratio F/M of 3.25. The main symptoms were abdominal pain (hepatic colic and pancreatic pain) for 10 patients (59 %) and cholestatic jaundice for 7 patients (41 %). The indications of ERCP in our series were: common bile duct stone in 10 cases (59 %), malignant stenosis of the bile duct concerning 6 patients (35.2 %) (3 pancreatic head tumors and 3 hilar cholangiocarcinoma), and one patient had a liver hydatid cyst complicated of biliary fistula (5.8 %). Infection was the most common complication with 8 cases of acute cholangitis (4 %) including 6 patients with malignant biliary stenosis. Post-sphincterotomy bleeding occurred in 5 cases (1.5 %) which the ERCP indication was choledocholithiasis in 4 cases. Four patients (2 %) presented post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) which 3 of whom had choledocholithiasis. The outcome was favorable for all the patients who managed conservatively except for one patient who died due to septic shock.

Conclusions The complications of ERCP are now well known and mostly depend on the complexity of the procedure and patient features. Infection, bleeding post-ERCP, and PEP were the most frequent complications in our series. All ERCP-practitioner needs to recognize this kind of complication and manage it.

Citation Chaimae A, Mohamed B, Nawal L et al. eP362 ENDOSCOPIC RETROGRADE CHOLANGIOPANCREATOGRAPHY COMPLICATIONS: UNIT EXPERIENCE. Endoscopy 2021; 53: S214.

Publication History

Article published online:
19 March 2021