Risk Factors for post-Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Abdominal Pain in Patients without post-ERCP Pancreatitis

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-40959/v1

Abstract

Background: Most of the studies on the abdominal pain associated with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) are aimed at solving the pain during the procedure. Post-ERCP abdominal pain has rarely been investigated,and few studies have focused on the characteristics and risk factors of post-ERCP abdominal pain without post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis (PEP).This study aimed to identify risk factors of post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP and investigate characteristics of the abdominal pain in non-PEP patients.

Methods: From August 6th, 2019, to January 15th, 2020, data of patients who underwent ERCP were retrospectively collected. The characteristics of the abdominal pain after ERCP were recorded and compared between PEP and non-PEP patients. Multivariate analysis was conducted to identify risk factors of non-PEP abdominal pain.

Results: Data from 616 ERCP procedures were retrospectively investigated in this study, among which 51(8.28%) patients presented post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP and 45 (7.31%) patients developed PEP. Multivariate analysis found that 5 risk factors were associated with non-PEP abdominal pain: female gender (OR:2.137), upper abdominal surgery history (OR:1.948), first time ERCP (OR:4.735), elevated serum γ-glutamyl transferase (𝛾-GT) (OR:2.570) and elevated serum direct bilirubin (DBIL) (OR:2.932). Visual analogue sale (VAS) score of PEP abdominal pain was higher than that of non-PEP pain group (P=0.05). There were no significant differences in the time of the onset of the pain, pain relief time, pain frequency, use of analgesic medicine, hospital stay and mortality between PEP and non-PEP pain group(P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study indicated that female gender, upper abdominal surgery history, first time ERCP, elevated 𝛾-GT and elevated DBIL were independent risk factors for post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP. Abdominal pain was severer in PEP patients than non-PEP patients.

Introduction

Abdominal pain is often observed in patients after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedure, which sometimes indicates the occurrence of complications such as post-ERCP pancreatitis, perforation, or cholangitis. The most common complication with post procedure abdominal pain is acute pancreatitis, which occurs in 3.5%-14.7% of the cases[1, 2] and leads to death in 0.1–1.1% of the patients[2, 3]. For clinicians, fear of severe complication with abdominal pain may lead to anxiety and excessive treatment. Moreover, post-ERCP pain may influence the satisfaction and mental state of patients.

Most of the researches on the abdominal pain associated with ERCP are aimed at solving the pain during the procedure[4]. Post-ERCP abdominal pain is one of the major symptoms of PEP; however, abdominal pain after the procedure also indicates potential occurrence of post-ERCP cholangitis, perforation and nonspecific etiology (flatulence, gastric and intestinal spasm, etc.). Few studies have focused on the characteristics and risk factors of post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP.

Therefore, this study aimed to identify the characteristics and risk factors of post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP. Differences between abdominal pain with or without PEP were compared so as to guide clinical diagnosis and decision-making.

Methods

Study design and patients

In this retrospective study, all patients who underwent ERCP from August 6th, 2019, to January 15th, 2020, at Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Drum Tower Clinical Medical College were included. Exclusion criteria included any of the following: 1) failed operation; 2) missing any of the indicators. The Medical Ethics Committee of Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Drum Tower Clinical Medical College approved this retrospective data only study with waiver of informed consent. The need for individual consent was waived for retrospective cohorts.

Data collection

The following data were extracted from the medical charts: patient-related (sex, age, surgical history, gastrectomy history, cholecystectomy history, drinking history, smoking history, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, chronic pancreatitis history, acute pancreatitis history, white blood cells(WBC), hemoglobin(Hb), platelet(PLT), neutrophil percentage(Neut%), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ- glutamyl transferase (𝛾-GT), total bilirubin(TBIL), direct bilirubin (DBIL), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), albumin (ALB), prothrombin time (PT), history of pancreatic diseases, suspection of sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD), hilar bile duct stricture, distal biliary stricture, diagnosis of common bile duct stone, and adenoma of the duodenal papilla); procedure-related (pre-cut, endoscopic sphincterotomy, pancreatic guidewire passages, biliary stent placement, endoscopic papillary balloon dilatation(EPBD), endoscopic papillary large-balloon dilation(EPLBD), nasobiliary drainage, difficult biliary cannulation (cannulation attempts of duration > 10 minutes, and/or > 5 attempts), contrast injection to the pancreatic duct, dilated extrahepatic bile duct, type of papillary orifice, pancreatic duct stenting and operator experience (high grade: >200 ERCP procedures total and/or > 50/year); postoperative outcomes(Visual analogue scale(VAS) score of post-ERCP abdominal pain, time of the onset of post-ERCP pain, pain relief time, pain frequency, use of analgesic medicine, use of protease inhibitors, total hospital stay, hospital stay after ERCP. Indomethacin suppository was given routinely as per the judgment of the operator. If the patient had new or aggravated epigastric pain within 72 hours after procedure, abdominal imaging was routinely performed according to the general situation of the patient, and, if necessary, protease inhibitors or analgesic medicine was given.

Definitions

PEP is diagnosed with 2 out of 3 diagnostic criteria defined by the Revised Atlanta Classification (pancreatic abdominal pain, three times upper limit of normal elevation of serum lipase, imaging suggestive of pancreatitis). Post-ERCP cholangitis is defined as new onset of fever (> 38℃, lasting over 24 hours) and cholestasis. Post-ERCP perforation is defined with imaging evidence of gas or luminal contents outside of the gastrointestinal tract. Post-ERCP bleeding is diagnosed with hematemesis and/or melena or hemoglobin drop > 2 g/dL or bloody fluid from nasobiliary drainage. Severity grading is conformed with ESGE guideline 2019[5]. Post-ERCP abdominal pain is diagnosed as a new or aggravated upper abdominal pain within 72 hours after ERCP.

Statistical analysis

The continuous data were dichotomized according to the cut-off value of each indicator based on clinical significance or normal range. Categorical data were expressed as numbers, rates, and percentages and were compared with the chi-square test or Fisher's test. The relevant factors found by univariate analyses (P < 0.15) were included in the multivariate logistic regression analysis (forward stepwise regression selection). A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to examine the sensitivity and specificity, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was used for discrimination.

Propensity score matching was performed to compare the realistic difference between PEP group and non-PEP group with post-ERCP abdominal pain. Prior to propensity matching, t tests or Chi-Square tests were used to assess for differences between groups. PEP group and non-PEP pain group were matched 1:1 on the following variables: age, gender, comorbidities (coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic liver disease, malignant tumors or cancer, chronic pancreatitis), surgery history, operation time, laboratory tests before operation (complete blood count, liver function test, kidney function test, prothrombin time (PT), CA199). McNemar’s test was used for binary variables. And a paired Student’s t-test or paired-sample test was used for continuous variables. Statistical significance was treated as a p-value < 0.05. All data were analyzed using SPSS 25.

Results

Characteristics of the patients

Data of 616 patients who underwent ERCP from August 6, 2019, to January 15, 2020 were retrospectively collected. Among these patients, 45 developed post-ERCP pancreatitis, and 51 presented post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP, including 11 post-ERCP cholangitis, 1 mild bleeding and 39 nonspecific abdominal pain. The rest 520 patients did not have any abdominal pain after operation. Patients’ characteristics between normal group and non-PEP pain group were presented in Table 1.

Univariate analysis

In the univariate analysis, 14 of 46 patient-related factors and 9 of 23 procedure-related factors were found to be associated with an increased risk of post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP (Table 1). Patient-related risk factors included: female gender, age <60 yr, no hypertension, first time ERCP, no drinking history, normal neut%, lower Hb, normal ALT, elevated 𝛾-GT, normal TBIL, elevated DBIL, normal ALP, normal ALB, normal CA199. Procedure-related risk factors included: rectal indomethacin, native papilla, difficult cannulation, pancreatic guidewire passages, contrast injection to the pancreatic duct, absence of EPLBD, absence of brush cytology, absence of biliary stent placement, pancreatic duct stenting.

Multivariate analysis

Risk factors that reached a p-value cut-off 0.15 or less were used to create the multivariate model. Variables which were considered to be the risk factors according to clinical experience and previous researches were also analyzed. The identified factors were entered into multivariate model (Table 2). Five risk factors were significant by multivariate analysis, three were characteristics of the patients (female gender, first time ERCP, upper abdominal surgery history), and two were preoperative laboratory examinations (elevated serum 𝛾-GT and DBIL before ERCP) (Figure 2). The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test was not significant(p=0.982) at the 0.05 significance level and the C-statistic was 0.764.

Table 2. Multivariate analyses (C-statistic = 0.764)

Risk Factors

β

Odds Ratio

95% Confidence Interval

p value

Gender(female)

0.759

2.137

1.152-3.962

0.016

Primary ERCP

1.555

4.735

1.886-11.889

0.001

γ-GT

0.944

2.570

1.299-5.085

0.007

DBIL

1.076

2.932

1.356-6.341

0.006

Upper abdominal surgery history

0.667

1.948

1.009-3.761

0.047

γ-GT: γ-glutamyl transferase; DBIL: direct bilirubin.

Propensity matching between PEP group and non-PEP pain group   

In order to identify the characteristics of the post-ERCP pain without PEP, PEP group and non-PEP pain group were compared and analysed. Before propensity matching, there were differences between the PEP group and non-PEP pain group in baseline characteristics. With the use of propensity matching, 34 patients with PEP were matched with 34 patients with non-PEP abdominal pain. The baseline characteristics were comparable after propensity matching (Table 3).  Characteristics between two groups were similar in the time of the onset of the pain, pain relief time and pain frequency(P<0.05) (Table.4). It showed that pain intensity(expressed as VAS score)of post-ERCP abdominal pain related to PEP was higher than that of non-PEP pain. (P=0.05). There were no significant differences in the use of analgesic medicine, hospital stay and mortality between the two groups.

Table 4. Characteristics between non-PEP group and PEP group

 

Non-PEP group

n=34%

PEP group

n=34%

p value

Total hospital stay (days)

10.15±8.894

13.71±17.85

0.214

Hospital stay after ERCP (days)

7.38±8.59

10.56±13.22

0.244

Mortality

1

0

1.000

Time of the onset of pain(hours)

13.19±16.44

9.04±7.76

0.193

VAS score

3.68±1.81

4.50±1.36

0.050

Pain relief time(hours)

1.98±3.59

1.39±2.07

0.412

Pain frequency(times)

1.41±1.28

1.60±1.20

0.524

Analgesic medicine use

22

27

0.280

Protease inhibitors use

13

31

0.000

Discussion

Abdominal pain after ERCP is common and is a source of distress to both patient and physician. Occasionally it predicts complications related to the procedure, especially PEP. However, apart from PEP, some postprocedural pain is of other etiology: 1. Post-ERCP cholangitis, typically presenting with fever, jaundice, and abdominal pain, needing use of anti-biotics or repeated ERCP; 2. Perforation, manifested as severe abdominal and back pain, abdominal tenderness and fever, needing intensive management, even surgery; 3. Nonspecific pain, often resolving in several hours. Several reports considered nonspecific pain may in part relate to bowel insufflation with air [4, 6]. According to typical clinical symptoms, it is relatively easier to identify perforation, bleeding and cholangitis. Therefore, it is a challenge for early differentiating between the pain of PEP and nonspecific pain. Empirical data on post-ERCP abdominal pain can be used to optimize the information for patients undergoing ERCP. It may contribute to improvement of a patient’s tolerance and the practice guidelines of support treatment, because such data enable better preparation of both patients and physician for the procedure.

In our study, 51 non-PEP pain patients consist of 11 mild post-ERCP cholangitis, 1 mild bleeding and 39 nonspecific pain. Our results showed that non-PEP pain was associated with female gender, first time ERCP and upper-abdominal surgery history, as well as patient’s elevated pre-ERCP serum 𝛾-GT and DBIL level. Female gender was found to be the risk factor for post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP in this study. Tom B. Glomsaker[7] found that female patients demonstrated an increased risk for reporting pain both during and after the ERCP procedure. Though this study did not exclude patients with PEP, this finding is partly in agreement with our result. Patients who underwent ERCP for the first time have a higher risk of abdominal pain after ERCP. Essink-Bot et al. [8] found that patients who had undergone previous surveillance endoscopies for Barrett’s esophagus experienced less discomfort, pain, and overall burden than patients who underwent upper endoscopy for the first time. They suggested that these previous surveillance endoscopies had resulted in an adaptation to the procedure. Upper-abdominal surgery history may cause postoperative abdominal adhesions and alter anatomy which would increase operative difficulty and probability of postoperative abdominal pain. Karayiannakis et al.[9] reported that adhesions in patients with upper-abdominal surgery occurred more frequently, and were more extensive and denser than those in patients with lower-abdominal surgery. It explains why no significant difference in the history of lower-abdominal surgery or the history of all types of surgery between groups was found in our study. Moreover, our study found that elevated serum 𝛾-GT and DBIL before the procedure were risk factors for post-ERCP pain. In contrast, elevated serum DBIL was proved to be protective factors for PEP[10], which means that if patients with abnormal DBIL present abdominal pain after ERCP, it is more likely to be other etiology rather than PEP.

Most clinicians would agree that patient satisfaction is of great importance. Patient satisfaction related to the ERCP procedure is related to the patients’ experiences of pain during and after the procedure regularly[7]. Nonspecific pain after ERCP may be confused with early symptom of complications, which influences clinical treatment and causes patients’ postoperative anxiety. After propensity-score matching, we found that the pain intensity related to PEP was more severe than that without PEP (4.50 ± 1.36 vs. 3.68 ± 1.81, p = 0.050). Our result was consistent with that of the previous studies. JSGE guideline for post-ERCP pancreatitis[11] showed that strong abdominal pain indicates a high probability of PEP. Hauser G er al.[12] found a threshold VAS score of 5 was strongly associated with the occurrence of PEP. They suggested that the VAS scores for abdominal pain appear to have an excellent diagnostic value for predicting both the presence and absence of PEP. Thus, VAS score may help distinguishing these two types of pain. For this study, it was reasonable to found protease inhibitors were used more frequently in PEP cases. The use of analgesic medicine was similar between PEP group and non-PEP pain group. Clinicians tended to give analgesic medicine rather than protease inhibitors to relief pain firstly in our study. It indicated that non-PEP pain especially nonspecific pain may lead to analgesic abuse.

Our study has limitations. This is a retrospective, observational study and hence suffers from potential selection and ascertainment bias despite propensity-score matching. Larger sample sizes or prospective studies are necessary to reduce biases.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our study indicated that female gender, first time ERCP, elevated serum 𝛾-GT, elevated serum DBIL and upper abdominal surgery history were independent risk factors for post-ERCP abdominal pain without PEP. Characteristics of post-ERCP pain were different in VAS score between PEP patients and non-PEP pain patients. These findings may contribute to the relief of patients' discomfort and dissatisfaction and therefore improve the quality of ERCP procedures and patient management.

Abbreviations

ERCP

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; PEP:Post-ERCP pancreatitis; VAS:Visual analogue sale; OR:Odds ratio; EPBD:Endoscopic papillary balloon dilatation; EPLBD:Endoscopic papillary large-balloon dilation(EPLBD); AUC:Area under the curve; ROC:Receiver operating characteristic curve

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Ethical Committee at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School. The Ethical Committee at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School approved the waiver of consent.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

The data set analyzed in the current study cannot be opened to public because patients’ privacy must be protected and IRB does not permit to do so. However, data are available from the author upon reasonable request.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.81871947)

Authors' contributions

XZ and LW designed the research and the study concept; MC and RZ contributed to analysis and interpretation of data; JC and YY contributed to the acquisition of data. MC and RZ wrote the paper. XZ and LW supervised the study; all of the co-authors conducted a critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

References

  1. Dumonceau JM, Andriulli A, Elmunzer BJ, et al. Prophylaxis of post-ERCP pancreatitis: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Guideline - updated June 2014. Endoscopy. 2014;46(9):799–815.
  2. Kochar B, Akshintala VS, Afghani E, et al. Incidence, severity, and mortality of post-ERCP pancreatitis: a systematic review by using randomized, controlled trials. Gastrointest Endosc. 2015;81(1):143–9.e149.
  3. Heitman SJ. ERCP and Mortality. Gastroenterology Hepatology. 2014;10(11):752–4.
  4. Bretthauer M, Seip B, Aasen S, et al. Carbon dioxide insufflation for more comfortable endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial. Endoscopy. 2007;39(1):58–64.
  5. Dumonceau J-M, Kapral C, Aabakken L, et al. ERCP-related adverse events: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Guideline. Endoscopy. 2019;52(02):127–49.
  6. Maple JT, Keswani RN, Hovis RM, et al. Carbon dioxide insufflation during ERCP for reduction of postprocedure pain: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Gastrointest Endosc. 2009;70(2):278–83.
  7. Glomsaker TB, Hoff G, Kvaløy JT, et al. Patient-reported outcome measures after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: a prospective, multicentre study. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2013;48(7):868–76.
  8. Essink-Bot M-L, Kruijshaar ME, Bac DJ, et al. Different perceptions of the burden of upper GI endoscopy: an empirical study in three patient groups. Qual Life Res. 2007;16(8):1309–18.
  9. Botaitis S, Simopoulos C, Karayiannakis AJ, et al. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with previous upper or lower abdominal surgery. Surg Endosc. 2004;18(1):97–101.
  10. Freeman ML, DiSario JA, Nelson DB, et al. Risk factors for post-ERCP pancreatitis: a prospective, multicenter study. Gastrointest Endosc. 2001;54(4):425–34.
  11. Mine T, Morizane T, Kawaguchi Y, et al. Clinical practice guideline for post-ERCP pancreatitis. J Gastroenterol. 2017;52(9):1013–22.
  12. Hauser G, Blažević I, Salkić N, et al. Diclofenac sodium versus ceftazidime for preventing pancreatitis after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: a prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Surg Endosc. 2016;31(2):602–10.

Tables

Table 1. Univariate analyses


Normal group%

Non-PEP pain group%

p

Gender(female) 

213/52040.96

35/5168.63

0.003

Age(<60yr)

193/52037.12

28/5154.90

0.016

Past history

358/52068.85

32/5162.75

0.430

Hypertension

196/52037.69

12/5123.53

0.048

Coronary heart disease

34/5206.54

2/513.92

0.666

Diabetes

94/52018.08

9/5117.65

1.000

Hepatitis

43/5208.27

6/5111.76

0.556

Tuberculosis

6/5201.15

2/513.92

0.155

Malignancy

15/5202.88

1/511.96

1.000

Acute pancreatitis

16/5203.08

1/511.96

0.987

Chronic pancreatitis

18/5203.46

2/513.92

1.000

Cirrhosis

24/5204.62

0/510

0.229

Fatty liver

28/5205.38

0/510

0.174

Allergy history

41/5207.88

6/5111.76

0.487

Transfusion history

22/5204.23

1/511.96

0.679

Surgical history

452/52086.92

43/5184.31

0.665

First time ERCP

381/52073.27

44/5186.27

0.044

Upper abdominal surgery history

264/52050.77

30/5158.82

0.306

Lower abdominal surgery history

104/52020.00

8/5115.69

0.474

Orthopedic surgery

22/5204.23

1/511.96

0.679

Cardiothoracic surgery

32/5206.15

2/513.92

0.739

Head and neck surgery

22/5204.23

1/511.96

0.679

Gastrectomy history

14/5202.69

2/513.92

0.530

Trauma history

25/5204.81

3/515.88

1.000

Smoking history

96/52018.46

8/5115.69

0.708

Drinking history

69/52013.27

2/513.92

0.071

WBC≤9.5

442/52085.00

46/5190.20

0.407

N rate≤75%

375/52072.12

42/5182.35

0.068

Hb≤120

307/52059.04

37/5172.55

0.072

PLT (≥125

416/52080.00

44/5186.27

0.355

ALT (≤40)

217/52041.73

31/5160.78

0.011

AST (≤40)

272/52052.31

30/5158.82

0.383

γ-GT (>35)

433/52083.27

30/5158.82

0.000

BIL (≤28)

281/52054.04

39/5176.47

0.003

DBIL (>10)

261/52050.19

10/5119.61

0.000

ALP (≤185)

313/52060.19

40/5178.43

0.015

ALB (≥40)

128/52024.62

19/5137.25

0.064

PT (≤15)

482/52092.69

50/5198.04

0.249

AMY (≤110)

360/52069.23

34/5166.67

0.751

CA199 (≤27)

326/52062.69

40/5178.43

0.031

Pancreatic diseases

44/5208.46

7/5113.73

0.317

Common bile duct stone

338/52065.00

32/5162.75

0.760

Hilar bile duct stricture

66/52012.69

3/515.88

0.182

Distal biliary stricture

94/52018.08

8/5115.69

0.710

SOD

2/5200.38

1/511.96

0.245

Duodenal papilla carcinoma

12/5202.31

3/515.88

0.287

Operator experience (high grade)

231/52044.42

23/5145.10

1.000

Operative time(<60min)

472/52090.77

50/5198.04

0.132

Indomethacin

8/5201.54

4/517.84

0.013

Native orifice

350/52067.31

40/5178.43

0.116

Peri-diverticular papilla

108/52020.77

8/5115.69

0.468

Intra-diverticular papilla

15/5202.88

2/513.92

1.000

Difficult biliary cannulation

51/5209.81

9/5117.65

0.093

Pancreatic guidewire passages

176/52033.85

25/5149.02

0.033

Contrast injection to the pancreatic duct

83/52015.96

13/5125.49

0.114

Dilated extrahepatic bile duct

403/52077.50

39/5176.47

1.000

Papilla opening

338/52065.00

33/5164.71

1.000

EST

281/52054.04

31/5160.78

0.380

EPBD

58/52011.15

4/517.84

0.502

EPLBD

103/52019.81

5/519.80

0.092

Pre-cut

21/5204.04

4/517.84

0.364

Titanium clip

30/5205.77

2/513.92

0.819

Stone extraction

326/52062.69

32/5162.75

1.000

Nasobiliary drainage

339/52065.19

38/5174.51

0.216

Bile duct brush

57/52010.96

2/513.92

0.148

IDUS

26/5205.00

0/510

0.200

Spyglass

11/5202.12

0/510

0.611

Biliary stent placement

118/52022.69

5/519.80

0.048

Pancreatic duct stenting

129/52024.81

19/5137.25

0.065

Hyperamylasemia

283/52054.42

28/5154.90

1.000

Postoperative WBC≤9.5

71/52013.65

8/5115.69

0.832

Postoperative N rate≤75%

223/52042.88

24/5147.06

0.657

Postoperative fever

122/52023.46

13/5125.49

0.863

Antibiotic after procedure

220/52042.31

17/5133.33

0.236

Postoperative septic shock

7/5201.35

1/511.96

0.529

Postoperative hemorrhage

10/5201.92

1/511.96

1.000

Post-ERCP cholangitis

114/52021.92

11/5121.57

1.000

Nonspecific abdominal pain

/

39/5176.47

/

Operation for adverse effects

1/5200.19

0/510

1.000

Protease inhibitors after procedure

165/52031.73

21/5141.18

0.210

PEP: post-ERCP pancreatitis; WBC: white blood cells; Hb: hemoglobin; PLT: platelet; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; γ-GT: γ-glutamyl transferase; BIL: total bilirubin; DBIL: direct bilirubin; ALP: alkaline phosphatase; ALB: albumin; PT: prothrombin time; AMY: serum amylase; SOD: superoxide dismutase; EST: endoscopic sphincterotomy; EPBD: endoscopic papillary balloon dilation; EPLBD: endoscopic papillary large-balloon dilation

 

Table 3. Baseline characteristics and procedure characteristics before and after Propensity matching

 

Before matching

 

After matching

 

Variables

Pain without PEP

n=51%

Pain with PEP

n=45%

P value

Pain without PEP

n=34%

Pain with PEP

n=34%

P value

Gender(female) 

3262.75

1840.00

0.040 

1852.94

1544.12

0.628 

Age(<60yr)

2345.10

2453.33

0.540 

2058.82

1750.00

0.627 

Past history

3262.75

2862.22

0.562 

2161.76

2367.65 

0.800 

Hypertension

1223.53

1022.22

1.000 

617.65

926.47

0.560 

Coronary heart disease

23.92

12.22

1.000 

12.94

12.94

1.000 

Diabetes

917.65

48.89

0.246 

617.65

411.76

0.734 

Hepatitis

611.76

36.67

0.495 

411.76

25.88

0.673 

Tuberculosis

23.92

00

0.497 

00

00

/

Malignancy

11.96

12.22

1.000 

12.94

12.94

1.000 

Acute pancreatitis

11.96

12.22

1.000 

12.94

12.94

1.000 

Chronic pancreatitis

23.92

24.44

1.000 

25.88

12.94

1.000 

Cirrhosis

00

12.22

0.469 

00

00

/

Fatty liver

00

24.44

0.217 

00

00

/

Allergy history

611.76

613.33

1.000 

617.65

617.65

1.000 

Transfusion history

11.96

24.44

0.598 

12.94

25.88

1.000 

Surgical history

4384.31

4293.33

0.209 

2985.29

3294.12

0.427 

Primary ERCP

4486.27

3782.22

0.779 

2779.41

2779.41

1.000 

Upper abdominal surgery history

3058.82

1942.22

0.152 

2470.59

1647.06

0.084 

Lower abdominal surgery history

815.69

715.56

1.000 

411.76

411.76

1.000 

Orthopedic surgery

11.96

24.44

0.598 

00

25.88

0.493 

Cardiothoracic surgery

23.92

12.22

1.000 

12.94

12.94

1.000 

Head and neck surgery

11.96

00

1.000 

00

00

/

Gastrectomy history

35.88

24.44

1.000 

25.88

25.88

1.000 

Trauma history

35.88

36.67

1.000 

25.88

38.82

1.000 

Smoking history

815.69

1022.22

0.444 

720.59

926.47

0.776 

Drinking history

23.92

511.11

0.247 

12.94

38.82

0.614 

WBC≤9.5

59.80

511.11

1.000 

514.71

411.76

1.000 

N rate≤75%

815.69

511.11

0.564 

617.65

411.76

0.734 

Hb≤120

1427.45

817.78

0.333 

1132.35

617.65

0.262 

PLT (≥125

713.73

511.11

0.765 

12.94

411.76

0.356 

ALT (≤40)

2039.22

2657.78

0.101 

1132.35

1750.00

0.218 

AST (≤40)

2141.18

2146.67

0.681 

1235.29

1235.29

1.000 

γ-GT (>35)

2141.18

1328.89

0.285 

1544.12

1338.24

0.806 

BIL (≤28)

1223.53

1533.33

0.364 

823.53

720.59

1.000 

DBIL (>10)

4180.39

3066.67

0.163 

2779.41

2779.41

1.000 

ALP (≤185)

1121.57

1533.33

0.251 

823.53

823.53

1.000 

ALB (≥40)

3262.75

2351.11

0.535 

2264.71

1852.94

0.460 

PT (≤15)

5098.04

4395.56

0.598 

3397.06

3397.06

1.000 

CA199 (≤27)

1121.57

1533.33

0.251 

720.59

1132.35

0.410 

Pancreatic diseases

713.73

613.33

1.000 

617.65

617.65

1.000 

Common bile duct stone

3262.75

2657.78

0.679 

1955.88

1955.88

1.000 

Hilar bile duct stricture

35.88

48.89

0.702 

25.88

25.88

1.000 

Distal biliary stricture

815.69

817.78

1.000 

720.59

617.65

1.000 

SOD

11.96

00

1.000 

12.94

00

1.000 

Duodenal papilla carcinoma

35.88

36.67

1.000 

12.94

38.82

0.614 

Operator experience (high grade)

2345.10

2248.89

0.838 

1750.00

1852.94

1.000 

Operative time

33.69±16.53

44.69±25.10

0.015 

37.00±17.54

42.24±18.22

0.232 

Cannulation time

2.89±3.61

6.86±11.77

0.034 

3.26±3.95

5.29±8.29

0.204 

Native orifice

4078.43

3986.67

0.422 

2573.53

2985.29

0.369 

Peri-diverticular papilla

815.69

1635.56

0.034 

617.65

1132.35

0.262 

Intra-diverticular papilla

23.92

12.22

1.000 

12.94

12.94

1.000 

Cannulation frequency

2.71±2.17

3.96±5.257

0.123 

2.76±2.24

4.03±5.82

0.241 

Difficult biliary cannulation

917.65

1226.67

0.329 

720.59

823.53

1.000 

Pancreatic guidewire passages

2549.02

2657.78

0.419 

2058.82

2161.76

1.000 

Contrast injection to the pancreatic duct

1325.49

1328.89

0.819 

1132.35

1235.29

1.000 

Frequency of pancreatic guidewire passages

0.78±0.94

1.16±1.61

0.165 

0.88±0.88

0.97±1.03

0.705 

Dilated extrahepatic bile duct

3976.47

2862.22

0.181 

2470.59

1852.94

0.212 

Papilla opening

3364.71

36.67

0.387 

2058.82

2367.65

0.615 

EST

3160.78

3066.67

0.671 

1955.88

2058.82

1.000 

EPBD

47.84

613.33

0.586 

25.88 

617.65

0.259 

EPLBD

59.80

817.78

0.371 

514.71

720.59

0.752 

Pre-cut

47.84

48.89

1.000 

411.76

25.88

0.673 

Titanium clip

23.92

36.67

0.663 

12.94

38.82

0.614 

Stone extraction

3262.75

2760.00

0.835 

1955.88

2058.82

1.000 

Nasobiliary drainage

3874.51

2760.00

0.189 

2676.47

2058.82

0.164 

Bile duct brush

23.92

511.11

0.247 

00

38.82

0.239 

IDUS

00

24.44

0.217 

00

12.94

1.000 

Spyglass

00

12.22

0.469 

00

12.94

1.000 

Biliary stent placement

59.80

511.11

1.000 

411.76

38.82

1.000 

Pancreatic duct stenting

1937.25

1840.00

0.835 

1544.12

1544.12

1.000 

Hyperamylasemia

2854.90

4497.78

0.000 

1955.88

3397.06

0.000 

Postoperative WBC≤9.5

815.69

1737.78

0.019 

823.53

1132.35

0.590 

Postoperative N rate≤75%

2447.06

3680.00

0.001 

2161.76

2676.47

0.294 

Postoperative fever

1325.49

2351.11

0.012 

1132.35

1441.18

0.615 

Antibiotic after procedure

1733.33

2555.56

0.023 

1235.29

1750.00

0.327 

Postoperative septic shock

11.96

36.67

0.338 

00

25.88 

0.439 

Postoperative hemorrhage

11.96

00

1.000 

00

00

/

Post-ERCP cholangitis

1121.57

1941.30

0.046

926.47

1029.41

1.000 

nonspecific abdominal pain

3976.47

/

/

2573.52

/

/

Operation for adverse effects

00

00

/

00

00

/