Needle-knife precut papillotomy with a small incision over a pancreatic stent improves the success rate and reduces the complication rate in difficult biliary cannulations

Background Successful precut sphincterotomy (PS) in difficult biliary cannulation (DBC) requires a large incision for deroofing the papilla. However, the high complication rate poses a substantial problem, in addition to the need for expert skills. Pancreatic stent placement could facilitate this procedure. Needle-knife precut papillotomy with a small incision using a layer-by-layer method over a pancreatic stent (NKPP-SIPS) could potentially improve the success rate and reduce the complication rate of PS.