Abstract:Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of early transpancreatic sphincterotomy (TPS) in patients with guide wire entering the pancreatic duct during difficult ERCP biliary cannulation. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of patients who underwent ERCP treatment in the Digestive endoscopy Room of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University from January 2019 to November 2021. The patients who successfully entered the bile duct within 5 minutes by using the conventional selective biliary cannulation technique were excluded. A total of 154 patients with guide wire entering the pancreatic duct during difficult ERCP biliary cannulation were included. Patients who had sphincterotomy immediately after guidewire running into pancreatic duct for the first time during the cannulation time was 5-10 min were set as early TPS group (n=62), while patients who underwent TPS when the guide wire had repeatedly entered the pancreatic duct (≥ 2 times) or when the cannulation time was ≥ 10min were set as delayed TPS group (n=92). The general data, cannulation time, procedure time, incidence of complications such as pancreatitis, bleeding and perforation after ERCP were compared. Results There was no significant difference between the early TPS group and the delayed TPS group in terms of general information such as gender, age and ERCP indications (all P >0.05), while the cannulation time [ 12 (10,15) min vs 21 (16,27) min, Z=8.262, P<0.001] and procedure time [29 (25,34) min vs 50.5 (41,67.75) min, Z=9.097, P<0.001] were significantly shorter than those in the delayed TPS group, and the pancreatic duct stent placement rate [9.7% (6/62) vs 16.30% (15/92)] was not statistically significant (χ2=1.381, P=0.240). The early TPS group had a significantly higher rate of successful biliary intubation [100% (62/62) vs 88.0% (81/92), χ2=6.282, P=0.012] than the delayed TPS group. The incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis [0% (0/62) vs 16.30% (15/92), χ2=11.2, P=0.001] and total complications [37.10% (23/62) vs 59.8% (55/92), χ2=7.626, P=0.006] were significantly lower than those in the delayed TPS group, while the incidence of hyperamylasemia [21.0% (13/62) vs 31.5% (29/92), χ2=2.08, P=0.149] and intraoperative bleeding [21.0% (13/62) vs 30.4% (28/92), χ2=1.699, P=0.192] were not significantly different, and no perforation or procedure-related death occurred in either group. Conclusion Early TPS can improve the success rate of biliary cannulation and reduce the incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis, which is safe and effective in patients with a miss-intubated guidewire into the pancreatic duct during difficult ERCP biliary cannulation.