Newly designed J-shaped tip guidewire: A preliminary feasibility study in wire-guided cannulation

Abstract

To perform wire-guided cannulation using a newly designed J-shaped tip guidewire, and to verify feasibility and safety for use. The study was conducted on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) patients with naïve papilla undergoing diagnosis and treatment of biliary diseases between September 2011 and July 2012. We performed ERCP in a succession of 50 cases with a J-shaped tip guidewire. The first insertion attempt began with a trainee who had 5 min to complete cannulation, followed if necessary by the trainer for another 5 min. We assessed the primary success rate of selective biliary cannulation within 10 min and adverse events such as post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP), bleeding or perforation. The primary success rate was 90% (45/50) within 10 min, the initial success rate within 5 min by trainee staff was 76% (38/50). The rate of PEP was 6% (3/50), but all 3 cases were mild pancreatitis. All patients were managed successfully with conservative treatment. There was no bleeding or perforation. A newly designed J-shaped tip guide-wire has the possibility to facilitate selective biliary cannulation for ERCP and appears to be safe.