Are complications of endoscopic sphincterotomy age related?
Background—Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography sphincterotomy is increasingly performed in younger patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. However, the safety of endo- scopic sphincterotomy in this age group, relative to that in older patients, is unknown. Aim—To determine whether the development of short term complications following endoscopic sphincterotomy is age related. Patients and methods—A prospective multicentre audit of 958 patients (mean age 73, range 14–97, years) undergoing a total of 1000 endoscopic sphincterotomies. Results—Two deaths occurred, both from postsphincterotomy acute pancreatitis. Postprocedural complications developed in 24 patients: pancreatitis in 10, ascending cholangitis in seven, bleeding in four, and retroperitoneal perforation in three. There were six complications (five cases of pancreatitis and one bleed; 2.2%) and no deaths in the 281 (29.3%) patients aged under 65 years. In comparison, 18 (2.6%) of the 677 patients aged over 6
