[How to proceed? ERCP in acute pancreatitis?]

The standard treatment of acute pancreatitis is primarily supportive, including a well standardized conservative therapy and additionally specific interventions in complicated disease. The role of early endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in acute pancreatitis has been discussed for about 20 years. The etiology of pancreatitis plays an important role in making the decision for early interventional treatment. The results of clinical trials about early interventional treatment of acute biliary pancreatitis demonstrate that the outcome of patients without signs of biliary stone impaction or acute cholangitis is burdened by more severe complications than in patients treated conservatively. Urgent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, endoscopic sphincterotomy and stone extraction within 72 hours of admission reduces the frequency of major complications only in patients with acute biliary pancreatitis with obstructive jaundice or biliary sepsis.