title: Therapeutic pancreatic endoscopy.
abstract: Therapeutic endoscopy in pancreatitis has included biliary or pancreatic sphincterotomy, or both, for microlithiasis and sphincter dysfunction. Alternatively, endoscopic treatment has been used to treat ductal disruption, including external or internal fistulas (high amylase effusions, pancreatic ascites, pancreaticoenteric communications, or pseudocysts). Finally, endoscopy has been used to treat obstructive disease, including both stones and strictures. This article reviews the state of the art in this field over the past year. Unfortunately, this is an area in which the appropriate approaches are still poorly defined, and prospective studies randomly assigning patients to endoscopic treatment in comparison with medical or surgical therapy remain few and far between.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington 98101, USA. gasrak@vmmc.org
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kozarek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010182:Pancreatic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D016717:Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic; D016896:Treatment Outcome