ERCP in Romania in 2006; a National Programme seems mandatory.
BACKGROUND
Endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreato-graphy (ERCP) is a procedure used in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary and pancreatic diseases, more preferable to open surgery in terms of a lower risk of morbidity and mortality and costing much less.


METHODS
This was a retrospective, multicenter study, in which we tried to involve the largest medical centers in Romania. They were asked to complete a questionnaire detailing the number of ERCPs performed in 2006, the type of and accessibility to radiology equipment, indications for ERCP, the availability of skilled endoscopists for ERCP and if there were any training pro-grammes.


RESULTS
The number of ERCP procedures performed in 2006 by the participating centers was 2647. There was a strong correlation between the availability of radiology equipment, the number of days allocated by the radiology department for the procedure, and the number of ERCPs performed. Gallstone removal accounted for most (50%) of the therapeutic ERCP indications.


CONCLUSIONS
For a large country such as Romania, a total number of 2647 ERCPs for 2006 is too low. Various important factors such as lack of access to equipment and few skilled ERCP endosco-pists were identified as possible causes. The number of ERCPs performed in Romania should be reorganized to perform 20000 per year in 5 years from now (2012) and give our population access to proper intervention endoscopy. The National Gastroenterology Society should actively encou-rage training in interventional endoscopy, and collaborate with Ministry of Health to have a National Task-force for Endoscop.
Bataga
Simona
S
University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tg-Mures, Romania.
Tanţău
Marcel
M
Cristian
Gheorghe
G
Stanciu
Carol
C
Constantinescu
Gabriel
G
Goldiş
Adrian
A
Străin
Mihnea
M
Eugen
Dumitru
D
Frăticiu
Alexandru
A
Săftoiu
Adrian
A
Mulder
Chris J J
CJ
D001660:Biliary Tract Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D005762:Gastroenterology / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D010182:Pancreatic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012383:Romania; D000078329:Workforce