ERCP induced acute pancreatitis often has a benign outcome

The latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology shows that post-ERCP acute pancreatitis is a mild disease with a favorable outcome.

Acute pancreatitis is the commonest complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

Data regarding the clinical course and outcome of post-ERCP pancreatitis are sparse, although the available data suggest it to be a severe disease.

Dr Vikram Bhatia and colleagues examined the clinical course, disease severity, and outcome of patients with post-ERCP acute pancreatitis.

The research team included all consecutive patients with post-ERCP acute pancreatitis.

The patients were managed according to a standard protocol.

The researcher's outcome measures were severity of pancreatitis, infectious complications, need for surgery and mortality.

95% of patients recovered with conservative management

Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

The clinical course and outcome of patients with post-ERCP acute pancreatitis were also compared with 174 patients with gallstone pancreatitis.

Of the 1497 de novo ERCP procedures, 57 patients developed acute pancreatitis.

The patient's mean age was 40 years, 16 were males, and 54 patients had mild pancreatitis.

Only 2 patients developed organ failure.

The research team found that 95% of patients recovered with conservative management.

However, 1 of the 57 patients died.

APACHE II scores at admission, and occurrence of pancreatic necrosis was less among patients post-ERCP acute pancreatitis.

The team observed that organ failure, infectious complications, and mortality were significantly less among patients with post-ERCP- acute pancreatitis.

Dr Bhatia's team commented, “Unlike previous belief, we found that post-ERCP acute pancreatitis was a mild disease with a favorable outcome in most cases.”