Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: eight-years study in geriatric patients

Abstract

Introduction: the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography technique was introduced in the province of Matanzas in February 2010, for the treatment of the cases with this indication and attending an important group of patients in geriatric age.
Objective: to describe the results of this technique after eight years of use.
Method: a descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in patients aged more than 65 years, who were attended in the service of Minimal Access Surgery of the Clinical Surgical University Hospital “Comandante Faustino Pérez Hernández”, in the period January 2010-January 2018. The studied population was 698 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria for 713 reports of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.
Results: female sex and cannulation of the desired duct predominated; pre-cut was used as complementary technique. Choledocholithiasis was the most frequent diagnosis; the most used therapeutic action was endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, and pancreatitis was the most commonly found complication. In the studied period, four patients died as a consequence of severe acute cholangitis.
Conclusions: the obtained results are similar to those obtained in populations undergoing the procedure in general, patients´ age-independent. It is a safe procedure in geriatric ages. The endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is a tool of a great diagnosis and therapeutic usefulness in our midst, with a morbid-mortality frequency guarantying it.