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Very urgent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is associated with early discharge in patients with non-severe acute cholangitis.

BACKGROUND
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a first-line procedure for biliary drainage in patients with acute cholangitis, and no study focused very urgent ERCP within several hours of hospital arrival. We aimed to elucidate the utility of very urgent ERCP for non-severe acute cholangitis.


METHODS
This retrospective observational study included patients with non-severe acute cholangitis who underwent ERCP between April 2011 and June 2020 in the study institution. Patients were stratified into three groups based on the time to ERCP after hospital arrival: very urgent (≤3hours), urgent (3-24hours), and elective (>24hours). The primary outcome was length of hospital stay (LOS).


RESULTS
In the study cohort of 291 patients, including 168 males (57.7%), with a median age of 76 (interquartile range, 70-83) years, 47, 196, and 48 patients underwent very urgent, urgent, and elective ERCP, respectively. The median LOSs in the very urgent, urgent, and elective groups were 12, 14, and, 15 days, respectively (Kaplan-Meier method). A shorter LOS was associated with earlier ERCP (log-rank trend test, P=0.04). The rates of readmission within 30 days of discharge and adverse events were not significantly different among the three groups. By multivariate analysis, very urgent ERCP was associated with a significantly earlier discharge than urgent and elective ERCP (HR 0.71, P=0.04 and HR 0.47, P<0.01, respectively). In addition, age≥75years, pancreatitis, albumin≤2.8g/dL, and two or more ERCP procedures were associated with significantly longer LOS (HRs <1, P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Very urgent ERCP for non-severe acute cholangitis was associated with early discharge.