Objective: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a procedure used in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary and pancreatic diseases. Although selective cannulation failure in the ERCP procedure is around 10-20%, the failure rate of the ERCP method performed by experienced individuals falls below 5%. The aim of this study is to investigate the causes of failure in ERCP procedures performed in our center.

Material and Method: Demographic data, laboratory data and ERCP results of 337 patients who underwent ERCP at Tepecik Training and Research Hospital Gastroenterology Department between June 2018 and August 2019 were retrospectively evaluated and recorded.

Results: Of the patients included in the study, 154 were male and 183 were female. The mean age was 65 ± 18 years. ERCP failed in 39 of 337 patients (11.6%). Diverticulum in 9 patients (23.1%), sphincter of oddi dysfunction (SOD) in 9 patients (23.1%), gastroenterostomy in 5 patients (12.8%), postbulbar stenosis in 5 patients (12.8%), papilla tumor in 4 patients (10.3%), impacted stone of distal choledoc in 4 patients (10.3%) and pancreatic tumor in 3 patients (7.7%) were the causes of ERCP failure. When the relationship between ERCP failure and gender was examined, no significant difference was found between male and female gender (p =0.86). There was no significant relationship between age and ERCP failure (p =0.21).

Conclusion: In our study, the most common causes of ERCP failure were periampullary diverticulum and SOD. We found that age and gender differences have no effect on ERCP cannulation success.