Challenges and safety of endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography among elderly patients.

Objective: To determine the challenges and safety of endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP) between patients of <60 years and ≥ 60 years. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Gastroenterology, Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Period: November 2022 to October 2023. Methods: All clinically suspected patients of hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and followed inclusion criteria were included. Patient’s age was categorized into two age group as Group A i.e. <60 years and Group B i.e. ≥ 60 years. Patient’s data were compiled and analyzed through SPSS. P-value ≤0.05 was considered as significant. Results: In this study, ERCP was successful in 95.1% patients under 60 years however it had 96.6% success in elderly patients with age 60 or more. Malignant biliary strictures were 7.21% in group A while 11.21% in group B with P-value of 0.021. Periampullary diverticulum was 1.45% in group A while 1.74% in group B with P-value of 0.021.Post ERCP pancreatitis was 44.2% in group A and 22.2% in group B with P-value of 0.343. Preprocedure ICU admissions were 1.4% in group A and 2.9% in group B with P-value of 0.005 while postprocedure shifting of patients to ICU were 0.8% in group A and 2.9% in group B with P-value of 0.084.Length of hospital stay between two groups with p-value was 0.540. Conclusion: ERCP can be used safely and effectively in the elderly to diagnose and treat hepatobiliary and pancreatic disorders by skilled endoscopits.