ERCP in Diagnosis of Benign Biliary Strictures

The first thing to evaluate for patients with jaundice is to define if it is of hepatic or extrahepatic origin. Some laboratory variables and imaging modalities like transabdominal ultrasonography, computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging may help detrmine the diagnosis. If jaundice is thought to be secondary to biliary obstruction, the major problem for clinicians is to define the etiology of obstructive jaundice. ERCP is the most commonly used technique for diagnosis and treatment of biliary stenosis. After the diagnosis of stenosis, the second step is to define whether it is benign or malignant. To this end, some secondary methods used with ERCP are available. However, not all of these methods are able to fully define the character of the stenosis. Therefore, new methods and technologies are needed to determine the nature of the biliary strictures.