What is endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)?
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.
