Patency of the Santorini duct and acute biliary pancreatitis. A prospective ERCP study

Disturbance of outflow of the pancreatic juice is considered to be a pathogenic factor in the development of acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP). In the years 1984-1988 sixty-seven patients admitted with ABP were prospectively allocated to urgent ERCP and endoscopic sphincterotomy. Diagnostic criteria of acute biliary pancreatitis were as follows: epigastric pain, an elevated serum amylase concentration, biochemical prediction of gallstones, positive pattern of pancreatitis in US and CT-scan and ERCP performed within 24 h of admission. At ERCP the anatomy of the pancreatic duct was evaluated and special attention was paid to the patency of the accessory (Santorini) duct as a potential outflow route of the pancreatic juice. The control group comprised 100 consecutive patients in whom a pancreatogram was obtained during ERCP performed because of expected biliary pathology. Patency of the Santorini duct was found merely in 17% patients with ABP. In contrast, this duct was patent in 69% of the patients in the control group (p less than 0.001). The absence of this additional possibility of draining pancreatic juice might be an important pathogenic factor in acute biliary pancreatitis.