[Prevention of post-ERCP acute pancreatitis with octreotide]

Acute pancreatitis is one of the most serious complications in endoscopic cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) and endoscopic sphincterotomy (EPT). Many attempts to avoid such complication have proved to be unsuccessful. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of octreotide acetate in preventing acute pancreatitis following ERCP. The study was carried out over 100 patients, randomly allocated in two groups. The first group of patients (50 pt.) received 0.1 mg of octreotide acetate s.c. 45 minutes before the ERCP, followed by another dose given 6 hours later. The second group received placebo s.c.