The diagnostic evaluation of ERCP in pancreatic and biliary carcinoma

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was performed in 77 cases of pancreatic carcinoma, 47 cases of carcinoma of the common bile duct and 45 cases of carcinoma of the gall bladder. In order to evaluate ERCP in pancreatic and biliary carcinoma, success rates of desired duct cannulation and some problems in the interpretation of ERCP findings were discussed. In 2 cases (2.6%) of pancreatic carcinoma, 6 cases (13.0%) of carcinoma of the common bile duct and 8 cases (17.8%) of carcinoma of the gall bladder were failed to visualized the desired ducts by ERCP. In pancreatic carcinoma, false negative cases in the interpretation of ERCP findings were encountered in 4 cases (4.6%). Similarly, false positive cases were encountered in 12 patients (13.6%). On the other hand, 4 false negative were encountered in cases of which carcinoma of the gall bladder could not detected and 4 false positive cases were encountered in cases with inflamatory disease of the common bile duct.