Acute pancreatitis represents numerous unique challenges to the practicing digestive disease specialist. Clinical presentations of acute pancreatitis vary from trivial pain to severe acute illness with a significant risk of death. Urgent endoscopic treatment of acute pancreatitis is considered when there is causal evidence of biliary pancreatitis. This article focuses on the diagnosis and endoscopic treatment of acute biliary pancreatitis.
Key points
- •
Acute pancreatitis is considered an endoscopic emergency when a biliary cause is likely and there is suspected cholangitis or ongoing biliary obstruction.
- •
Elective endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) should be considered when there is jaundice or proven choledocholithiasis by noninvasive imaging or intraoperative cholangiography.
- •
There remains some debate regarding the role of early ERCP in the setting of acute biliary pancreatitis without evidence of biliary obstruction.
- •
Further studies should better establish the indicators for ampullary obstruction and predictors for severe attacks.
- •
Additional prospective endoscopic trials are needed to clarify the optimal timing of biliary intervention, the potential benefit of biliary sphincterotomy in all cases independent of biliary obstruction, and the usefulness of pancreatic stenting.
Related posts:
Advances in Pancreatic Endoscopy
Effective Endoscopic Management of Pancreatic Diseases
Role of Endoscopic Ultrasonography in the Diagnosis of Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis
Endoscopic Therapy for Chronic Pancreatitis
ERCP for Biliary Strictures Associated with Chronic Pancreatitis
Endoscopic Ultrasonography–Guided Drainage of the Pancreatic Duct
Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
Full access? Get Clinical Tree
