Oral and Gastrointestinal
Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
March 2001
Clinical Focus*
Patients with unknown or suspected common bile duct stones
- What is the diagnostic performance of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in detecting common bile duct stones in comparison to alternatives?
- What are the outcomes of treatment using ERCP strategies compared to using surgical or medical management?
- What is the diagnostic value of specific risk factors or predictive models for assessing the likelihood of having a common bile duct stone?
Patients with known or suspected pancreaticobiliary malignancy
- What is the comparative diagnostic performance of ERCP tissue sampling techniques in establishing a tissue biopsy diagnosis of pancreaticobiliary malignancy, and how do these techniques compare to alternative nonsurgical tissue sampling techniques (e.g., endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration [FNA] or percutaneous FNA)?
- What is the diagnostic performance of ERCP in diagnosing the presence of malignance pancreaticobiliary obstruction in comparison to other imaging alternatives (e.g., endoscopic ultrasound [EUS] or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography [MRCP])?
- What are the outcomes of treatment using ERCP for strategies to treat malignant pancreaticobiliary obstruction compared to using surgical or interventional radiology treatment?
Patients with pancreatitis
- What is the diagnostic performance of ERCP in detecting underlying causes or complications of pancreatitis that are amenable to treatment in comparison to alternatives (e.g., EUS or MRCP)?
- What are the outcomes of treatment using ERCP strategies compared to using surgical or medical therapy?
Patients with abdominal pain of possible pancreaticobiliary origin
- What is the diagnostic performance of ERCP with sphincter of Oddi manometry in identifying a pancreaticobiliary origin of pain in comparison to alternatives (e.g., biliary scintigraphy, EUS, or MRCP)?
- What are the outcomes of treatment using ERCP strategies compared to using surgical or medical therapy?
- What patient, procedure, or operator factors are determinants of complications of ERCP?
*Addressed in the summary or evidence report.
Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography
Summary (Publication No. 02-E008, January 2002)
Evidence Report (Publication No. 02-E017, June 2002)
(PDF Files; File Download)
EPC: Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association TEC
Topic Nominator: NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research
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