Introduction: This study was designed to evaluate outcomes in pediatric patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) as compared with an American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) complexity grade-matched adult cohort.
Method: In this retrospective case-control study, ERCPs performed in pediatric patients from January 2008 to December 2018 in 2 tertiary referral hospitals were compared with a complexity-matched adult control group with similar procedural indications. Primary outcomes included the clinical success rate, technical success rate, and complication rate. Secondary outcomes included postprocedural admission rates, mode of sedation, procedure time, fluoroscopy time, hospitalization length, and the number of repeat procedures.
Results: Two hundred thirty-two ERCPs performed in 110 pediatric patients (average age 13.3) and 318 ERCPs performed in 160 ASGE grade-matched adult controls (average age 47.2 years) were analyzed. All procedures were therapeutic. There was no difference in the technical success rate (P = 0.2), clinical success rate (P = 0.5), complication rates (P = 0.1), and fluoroscopy time (P = 0.4), between the pediatric and adult cohorts. General anesthesia use and length of stay were significantly higher in the pediatric group (P = 0.0001). In subgroup analysis, technical (P = 0.2) and clinical success (P = 0.2) as well as complication rates (P = 0.6) were comparable between patients 10 years or less and patients 11 to 18 years within pediatric cohort.
Conclusions: ERCP in pediatric cohorts appears to be safe and effective with equivalent outcomes relative to an ASGE complexity-matched adult cohort. Pediatric patients are more likely to require general anesthesia and have a longer average length of stay relative to adult controls.