A study on periampullary diverticula – 6 years ERCP experience from a referral centre

Introduction: Periampullary diverticula (PAD) are mucosal outpouchings commonly situated on the medial aspect of second part of duodenum; usually within 2-3 cm of the ampulla of vater. PAD are usually asymptomatic incidental findings during side viewing scopy. We aimed to analyze the influence of PAD in the management of patients who underwent ERCP during past 6 years in our centre. Materials and methods: Patients between the ages of 13 and 74 with the diagnosis of pancreaticobiliary diseases who underwent ERCP at Institute of medical gastroenterology, Madras Medical College from January 2012 to December 2017 were taken into account for retrospective analysis. We assessed and compared ERCP results in patients with and without PAD. Results: A total of 3412 patients underwent ERCP that of these 197(5.77%) patients had PAD. Among the 3412 cases , the incidences of PAD in patients age group less than 50 years was 2.6% and age group more than 50 years was 8.1%(P<0.001). Successful biliary cannulation was achieved in 79.18% (n=156) of patients with PAD and 93.1% of patients of patients without PAD (P<0.001). Of that in patients with PAD, for 28.93 %( n=57) cases underwent precut needle papillotomy. The papilla was undetectable in 6 cases with PAD. Incidence of PAD was higher in choledocholithiasis group (9.2% vs 4.1%, p=0.003), but in incidence of CBD stricture had no difference. Complete clearance of CBD stones was achieved lesser in patients with PAD (72.4% vs 86.8% P=0.02). Conclusion: The frequency of PAD increases with age and occurs more in choledocholithiasis cases. Our experience showed decreased rate of cannulation success with PAD, increased difficulty in cannulation and decreased rate of successful stone retrieval.