Our Experience of ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) in Children

Abstract

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was performed in 19 cases of our series. The subjects consisted of three cases with the ages of under three years who required the general anesthesia, nine cases with ages ranged from four to nine and seven cases from 10 to 15 years of age. The success rate of ERP (pancreatography) was 100% but was only 70% in ERC (cholangiography). The final diagnosis made by ERCP or for which investigated further by the method were ten cases of congenital biliary dilatation, five cases of unknown causes of abdominal pain and/or vomiting, and one case of pancreatitis, biliary atresia, biliary hypoplasia and hepatitis respectively. Our study confirmed that there is no doubt that ERCP is a valuable procedure in the investigation for various biliary and pancreatic lesions in children, even though there are still many technical problems which should be solved particularly in young infant.