Analysis of risk factors and prevention strategies of post-ERCP pancreatitis

To analyze the relevant risk factors and preventive measures for post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (post-ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) so as to improve the diagnosis and treatment levels of ERCP, thus reducing the prevalence rate of PEP.

The clinical data of 278 patients receiving ERCP from January 2014 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. First, the univariate analysis was conducted for the factors such as gender, age, diameter of common bile duct, whether development occurred in the pancreatic duct and other factors. Then, the multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed for factors showing statistical significance in the univariate analysis so as to analyze the independent risk factors for PEP.

The success rate of ERCP included in the study was 97.12%. The prevalence rate of PEP was 8.27%. Univariate analysis results showed that the prevalence rate of PEP in the group of patients younger than 60 years old was higher than that in the group of patients older than 60 years old (14.14% vs. 5.03%, p = 0.016); the prevalence rate of PEP in the group of patients with intubation difficulty was higher than that in the group of patients without intubation difficulty (19.61% vs. 5.73%, p = 0.004); the prevalence rate of PEP in the group of patients with operation time more than 60 min was higher than that in the group of patients with operation time less than 60 min (18.60% vs. 6.38%, p = 0.034); the prevalence rate of PEP in the group of patients with the pancreatic duct development was higher than that in the group of patients without the pancreatic duct development (50% vs. 6.72%, p < 0.001); the prevalence rate of PEP in the group of patients placed with nasobiliary drainage catheters was not higher than that in the group of patients not placed with nasobiliary drainage catheters (18.00% vs. 2.81%, p < 0.001). The above five relevant factors were included in the logistic regression equation for the multivariate analysis, which showed that the age less than 60 years old (p = 0.002) and the pancreatic duct development (p = 0.004) were independent risk factors for PEP, and nasobiliary drainage (p = 0.003) was a protective factor for PEP.

The occurrence of PEP is associated with the age less than 60 years old, the pancreatic duct development, intubation difficulty and overlong operation time. Among them, the pancreatic duct development and the age less than 60 years old are independent risk factors for PEP. Placing nasobiliary drainage catheters after operation, avoiding the pancreatic duct development, improving the success rate of intubation, reducing ERCP operation time and other methods, can effectively reduce the occurrence of PEP.