title: Endoscopic papillotomy.
abstract: Despite an 80 to 90 percent success rate in removing common bile duct stones, this technique has yet to receive universal acceptance in the United States. Originally developed for retained or newly formed common bile duct stones in patients with previous cholecystectomy, the procedure is now also used to remove common duct stones in high-risk patients with an intact gallbladder, to relieve the obstruction of papillary stenosis and to provide palliation in patients with juxta-ampullary neoplasms. This should be the first mode of therapy for high-risk or elderly patients with amenable biliary tract disease.
mesh_terms: D004724:Endoscopy; D042882:Gallstones / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods