Charting Unexplored Territories: ERCP Indications and Complications in Pediatric Patients; A Cross-Sectional Study from 2022 to 2023

There are ongoing concerns about the safety of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in children, as recorded cases have shown complications.

The objective of this study is to investigate the indications, complications, and outcomes of ERCP in pediatric patients.

This cross-sectional study was conducted at Namazi and Abu Ali Sina Hospitals between September 2022 and December 2023. The study focused on pediatric patients aged 1 month to 18 years undergoing ERCP. The demographics, indications for ERCP, pre-procedural imaging findings, and complications within 72 hours and up to 6 months after ERCP were extracted from medical records.

During the study period, a total of 100 ERCP procedures were performed on 56 pediatric patients. The mean age of the patients was 10.22 ± 4.80 years, with females accounting for 53.6% of the group. The main indications for performing ERCP were the presence of a stricture after orthotopic liver transplantation (22%) and the presence of a common bile duct stone (19%). The incidence of complications was notable for acute pancreatitis (3%) and bleeding (2%), while the failure rate for ERCP operations was determined to be 4%.

The infrequent occurrence of failures and complications highlights the substantial benefit of ERCP in treating biliary and pancreatic illnesses in children.