[Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP) and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) in cholestatic syndromes of children and adolescents (author's transl)].

Conventional cholangiography had failed to establish a diagnosis in 5 children aged 6 weeks to 14 years and in 6 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years suffering from cholestasis; therefore endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP) was performed, allowing to establish congenital biliary tract anomalies, cholelithiasis and benign obstruction of the extrahepatic biliary tract as causes of the cholestatic syndromes. Thus ERCP again turned out to be a valuable diagnostic procedure. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) using the Chiba technique has not yet been applied in infancy to a great extent. Application of PTC however should be considered as well in cholestasis. It cannot yet be decided, if ERCP or PTC is to be prefered in neonatal cholestasis; further investigations are needed to clear up this point.