Percutaneous pancreatography for treatment of complicated pancreatic duct strictures

Background: Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography was developed over 30 years ago for the diagnosis of biliary disorders. It has become an accepted interventional technique for management of biliary tract diseases, especially in patients who have failed attempted endoscopic retrograde pancreatography or have altered anatomy that makes the biliary tree endoscopically inaccessible. The correlative procedure, which we term 'percutaneous pancreatography' (PP), has only been described once in the literature. Case Presentations: We report the outcome of 4 patients undergoing PP for management of difficult pancreatic duct strictures. In all patients, PP was used to provide access and therapy of otherwise endoscopically impassable pancreatic duct strictures. PP-guided pancreatic stent duct placement was performed and allowed for subsequent successful endoscopic management of complex, benign pancreatic duct obstructions. Conclusions: PP is a useful modality for management of otherwise endoscopically impassable pancreatic duct strictures.