The utility of upfront double wire guided biliary cannulation following early unintentional pancreatic cannulation in patients undergoing ERCP

This study aims to assess the impact of upfront double-guidewire technique (DGT) following inadvertent early pancreatic duct (PD) cannulation or biliary cannulation and post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) complications. A pilot non-randomized cohort study was performed in patients undergoing ERCP. DGT was utilized in the first 25 patients followed by standard cannulation technique (SCT) in the subsequent 25. A significantly lower PD cannulation rate [median (range)] was noted in the DGT group [1 (0-5) vs. 3 (0-6); p=0.013]; however, the pancreatitis rate was similar [2 (9 %) DGT, 1 (4 %) SCT; p=0.601]. In the SCT group, 15/25 (60 %) required DGT to achieve biliary cannulation. The majority of our cohort proceeding to an SCT following early PD cannulation required a DGT to achieve biliary cannulation. Early DGT resulted in a significant reduction in unintentional pancreatic cannulation but did not translate into a reduction in pancreatitis in our cohort.