Post-ERCP acute necrotizing pancreatitis

An analysis of acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was carried out. The incidence of ANP was 0.5% (5/914) for ERCP and 0.5% (2/370) for endoscopic sphincterotomies (EST). All the five patients were obese, middle-aged or older women. Four had a suspicion of common bile duct stones and the fifth a pancreatic tumour as an indication for ERCP. Two had most probably a functional sphincteric disorder and the third was without clear pathological findings. In the remaining two cases the bile duct cannulation failed and repeated pancreatic duct cannulation occurred; while in one case the pancreatic duct was not cannulated. The four pancreatographies were normal and without parenchymal opacification. Symptoms of acute pancreatitis started within 6 hours after ERCP. The pancreatitis was severe by Ranson criteria and necrotizing by evaluation at laparotomy. All the patients showed bacterial growth either in bile, blood or ascitic fluid early in the course of pancreatitis (E. coli, Str. faecalis or Klebsiella pneumoniae). The possible pathogenetic factors of post-ERCP ANP are discussed.