Initial experience with pancreatic stent placement for the prophylaxis of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP)

Introduction and aim: PEP is the most common complication of ERCP with an incidence of 4–5% in unselected and more than 10% in high-risk patients. Prophylactic pancreas stenting is recently recommended to prevent PEP. The aim of this study was to evaluate our initial results with the placement of prophylactic pancreas stent. Patients and methods: We started to insert prophylactic pancreas stents (5 F, 3cm) in cases of difficult biliary cannulation since 2009, and reviewed retrospectively the first 23 cases until March 2011. The mean age of the 17 female and 6 male patients was 61 years (35–87). Multiple pancreat…