ERCP is a test to examine your liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and pancreas. Your healthcare provider puts a slim, flexible, lighted tube called an endoscope into your mouth and passes it through the esophagus and stomach into the small intestine. Your provider finds the opening of the bile drainage tube from the liver. This drainage tube is called the common bile duct. It drains bile from the liver and pancreatic juice from the pancreas into the small intestine to help with fat digestion. Your provider passes a small plastic tube into the common bile duct and injects a contrast dye that can be seen with an X-ray exam. The ducts and the pancreas can then be examined for abnormalities. ERCP may be used to remove stones or blockages in the bile ducts by making a cut in the intestine at the opening of the duct to enlarge the opening.
ERCP is used mainly to diagnose and treat gallstones.
Examples of other tests that may be done to look at the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and pancreas and to diagnose problems with these organs are:
You should ask your healthcare provider about these choices.
The test may be done in an outpatient clinic or hospital.
You will be given a sedative to relax you. The back of your throat will be sprayed with a local anesthetic to prevent gagging on the scope. Your healthcare provider will insert a tube into your mouth, down your throat, and through your esophagus, stomach, and small intestine until it reaches the point at which the common bile duct opens into the intestine (the sphincter of Oddi).
Your healthcare provider will pass a small tube through the scope and inject a contrast dye through the tube into the ducts. This makes the ducts show up clearly on X-rays.
If the exam shows stones, your provider may use a tool to break them and move them into the intestine. Your provider may also enlarge the opening of the sphincter of Oddi by cutting into the muscle wall to allow the stones to pass through to the intestine more easily. Tissue samples may be taken for testing in the lab.
The test takes 30 minutes to 2 hours.
You will need to stay at the clinic or hospital for 1 to 2 hours until the most of the sedative wears off. If any kind of treatment is done during ERCP, such as removing a gallstone, you may need to stay in the hospital overnight.
After the procedure:
Ask your healthcare provider what other steps you should take and when you should come back for a checkup.
Your healthcare provider may understand your problem better and be able to suggest further care.
You may get relief from the problem. If you have a blockage, your healthcare provider may be able to relieve it without abdominal surgery. Abdominal surgery has more risks, causes more discomfort, and requires a longer hospital stay and greater expense.
You should ask your healthcare provider how these risks apply to you.
Call your provider right away if:
Call during office hours if: