Introduction Symptomatic gallbladder disease is one of the most common conditions encountered by the gastrointestinal endoscopist. It accounts for over 225,000 hospital discharges per year and over 2 billion health care dollars spent per year. Whereas gallbladder disease can manifest…
Introduction Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) has traditionally represented the optimal approach to the bile duct and the pancreatic duct. However, ERCP is not always successful because of the inability to achieve selective cannulation or because of inaccessibility of the papilla…
Introduction Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is a powerful technique that is integral to the management of many patients with biliary and pancreatic disease. EUS provides detailed images of the extrahepatic biliary tree and pancreas with very little risk to the patient,…
Introduction Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) requires several years of dedicated training and continuous refinement of knowledge and skill. Selective ductal cannulation is the sine qua non for diagnostic and therapeutic ERCP. General issues on cannulation have already been highlighted in…
Introduction Endoscopic cannulation of the major papilla with imaging of the biliary tree and the pancreatic ductal system (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography [ERCP]) was first successfully accomplished with an end-viewing duodenoscope and reported in 1968. Subsequent development of side-viewing endoscopes with…
Introduction Pancreaticobiliary endoscopy focuses on the diagnosis and therapy of conditions involving the pancreas and biliary tree, and distinguishes itself from luminal endoscopy by a greater use of side-viewing endoscopes and echoendoscopes and the use of fluoroscopy. As discussed in…
Introduction The use of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has grown over the last 30 years, and it is now a well-established diagnostic method for the assessment of a range of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, including the evaluation and staging of many types…
Introduction Over the past 15 years, the role of endoscopy in the removal of large and subepithelial lesions has expanded greatly. Whereas expertise in endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been long established in Asia, the technique has become more widely…
Introduction Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is an evolving concept, combining minimally invasive surgery with flexible endoscopy, potentially representing a major paradigm shift to scarless surgery. Recently, NOTES went from few experimental reports to clinical series and multicentric studies.…
Introduction Obesity is a global epidemic, and has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of bariatric procedures performed worldwide. As the field of bariatric surgery continues to grow with the increasing prevalence of obesity, a greater number of…