Five cases of iatrogenic duodenal perforation occurring between 2002 and 2007 at Cairns Base Hospital are presented for comparison, with reference to a review of ERCP at Cairns Base Hospital for the years 2005/2006. Further, a focused review of the literature was undertaken to inform discussion of the surgical management AZD3965 nmr of such cases. Methods Cairns Base Hospital is a secondary referral hospital in Far North Queensland, Australia. It serves a catchment population of approximately 250 000, 15% of which identify as Indigenous Australian. Hospital surgical audit and endoscopy records for the period 2002–2008

were searched for cases of duodenal perforation following endoscopy or ERCP. Age, sex, indication for endoscopy/ERCP, timing or delay to diagnosis and definitive management, type of perforation, surgical management, complications, length of stay, and late morbidity were recorded for each case. An audit of ERCP at Cairns Base Hospital for the two year period 2005/2006 was utilized to determine incidence of complications of ERCP and is presented in Tables 1 and 2. Table BVD-523 1 Complications of ERCP procedures for 2005–6

at Cairns Base Hospital (N = 211) Complication N (%) Pancreatitis 9 (4.3%) Cholangitis 7 (3.3%) Bleeding 4 (1.9%) Perforation 2 (0.95%) Death 3 (1.4%) Other: Stroke 1 (0.5%) Total (with complications) 22 (12.3%) Adapted from Cotton et al. 1991 [3]. Table 2 Indications for ERCP 2005–06, Cairns Base Hospital (N = 202) Indication N (%) CBD stone (s) 115 (57%) Cholangitis 6 (3%) Malignant jaundice 29 (14%) Stent change or unblocking 33 (16%) Abdominal pain, abnormal LFTs, dilated duct 5 (2.5%) Chronic pancreatitis 10 (10%) Abnormal CT 1 (0.5%) Bile leak 3 (1.5%) For the focused literature review, a PubMed search was undertaken using the terms “duodenal

perforation”, “endoscopic” and “retroperitoneal necrosis”. Case-based articles cited by reviews were secondarily sourced. Articles with English language click here abstracts were considered, and excluded if endoscopy was not the cause of the perforation (rather see more a treatment) or if specific operative details were not reported. Similarly, only cases that underwent some form of surgical management were included. Approval to access and analyze de-identified patient records for this study was given by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Cairns and Hinterland Health Service District. Results Five patients sustaining iatrogenic duodenal perforation were identified. The clinical data pertaining to these are presented in Table 3. All four of the ERCP cases had an associated pre-cut sphincterotomy. No significant bleeding was noted, and no additional procedures such as lithotripsy or stenting were performed. In two cases, there was no specific evidence of choledocholithiasis, with the ERCP being intended solely for diagnostic purposes. Figure 1 shows a representative CT image from Case 2 prior to surgical intervention.