Outpatients undergoing therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: six-hour versus overnight observation.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The purpose of the present retrospective study was to compare the proportion of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) complications detected with 6-h observation followed by same-day discharge (SDD) versus overnight observation (OO) after therapeutic ERCP. METHODS: There were 134 outpatients in the SDD group and 178 outpatients in the OO group. The SDD group was discharged after a 6-h observation while the OO group was discharged after overnight observation. Patients in the SDD group were admitted from the recovery room for evaluation if they had systolic blood pressure (BP) < 100 mmHg, pulse > 100/min, temperature > 37.5 degrees C, or post-procedure abdominal pain. The primary outcome of the present study was the proportion of post-ERCP complications detected within the observational period between the SDD group and the OO group. RESULTS: The post-ERCP complication rate of therapeutic ERCP in the SDD and OO groups were 9.7% and 9.6%, respectively (P = 0.964). Eleven patients (8.2%) in the SDD group and 13 patients (7.3%) in the OO group were found to have post-ERCP complications within the observation period. There was no significant difference in the proportion of post-ERCP complications detected within the observational period between the two groups (P = 0.672). CONCLUSION: Outpatient therapeutic ERCP with observation of 6 h can detect the same proportion of patients with post-ERCP complications as overnight observation.