Technique and results of endoscopic retrograde pancreaticocholangiography. A preliminary report on 140 patients.

Endoscopic retrograde pancreaticocholangiography (ERPC) has been performed in 140 patients, mainly Blacks and Indians. The first 100 patients have been analysed. The greatest diagnostic yield in this series is in (suspected) obstructive jaundice, where 26 diagnoses were made in 35 patients. In 40 patients with pancreatitis, the widest ducts were seen in 12 patients with calcific pancreatitis, but the procedure was of less help than expected. This was because no patients with continual pain after cessation of alcohol intake were found with operable strictures of the main pancreatic duct. The pancreatic function test with secretin and cholecystokinin-pancreozymin correctly diagnosed 4 patients with non-calcific pancreatitis in whom the ERPC was normal. There was a useful diagnostic yield in patients with unexplained upper gastrointestinal symptoms (15 diagnoses were made in 23 patients).