M. Al-Mansour1, J. Hazey1 1Ohio State University,Surgery,Columbus, OH, USA
Introduction: ~~Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is traditionally performed by gastroenterologists. We are reporting our institutional experience with a large number of cases performed by surgeons.
Methods: ~~We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 1399 patients who underwent 1810 ERCP procedures performed by surgeons between August 2003 and June 2016. The surgeons were trained in formal surgical endoscopy fellowships. Demographic, procedure-specific and outcome data were collected.
Results:~~The mean age was 52.8 years and 54.8 % of patients were female. A surgical endoscopy fellow was involved in 63.3% of the ERCP procedures. Successful cannulation of the common bile duct and/or pancreatic duct was achieved 91.2% of the time. The rate of major complications was 5%. The rates of post-ERCP pancreatitis, hemorrhage, cholangitis and perforation were 4.6%, 0.5%, 0.6% and 0.1% respectively. All-cause 30 day mortality was 0.5% and there were no ERCP-specific mortalities noted.
Conclusion:~~ERCP can be performed safely by fellowship trained surgical endoscopists with excellent success rates and low complication rates that are consistent with previously reported data.