Post written by Zhuan Liao, MD, from the Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Endoscopy Center, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China.

The purpose of this study is to determine the incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) and risk factors at different clinical stages of chronic pancreatitis (CP) based on the M-ANNHEIM classification system.

Therapeutic ERCP procedures are commonly used to relieve pain in patients with CP and biliary diseases (BD). Although this procedure carries significant risks, almost all studies on PEP have mainly involved patients with biliary diseases, rather than CP. Thus conducting this study helps to illustrate the incidence of PEP and may greatly contribute to reducing the incidence in CP patients.

Compared to BD patients undergoing ERCP, CP patients had a similar incidence but lower grades of severity of PEP, and the incidence of PEP decreased as CP progressed. Female gender, history of acute pancreatitis, and prior PEP were independent risk factors of PEP, whereas ESWL was first identified as a protective factor.

Figure 1. The incidences of PEP at different clinical stages of chronic pancreatitis based on the M-ANNHEIM classification system. *P < .05. PEP, post-ERCP pancreatitis.

More attention should be paid to patients with more risk factors to prevent the incidence of PEP. More clinical trials are needed to identify the effective precautions in CP patients.

Find the article abstract here.

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