Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for primary sclerosing cholangitis

Abstract

Although there are no randomized, controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) patients, substantial indirect evidence supports the effectiveness of ERC in symptomatic PSC patients with a dominant stricture. Currently, cumulative evidence supports the role of ERC with endoscopic dilation with or without additional short-term stent placement for symptomatic PSC patients with a dominant stricture. Differentiating benign dominant strictures from cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) remains difficult; however, newer endoscopic techniques and advanced cytologic techniques are likely to improve sensitivity for the diagnosis of CCA over that achieved by traditional cytology brushing alone.

Keywords: Bile duct sampling; Bile duct stricture; Biliary drainage; Cholangioscopy; Choledochoscopy; Dominant stricture; ERCP; Primary sclerosing cholangitis.