Comparison of Efficacy of ESWL and Laser Lithotripsy in Chronic Pancreatitis With ERCP

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is an inflammatory disease that can causes progressive fibrosis of pancreatic tissue and eventually leads to damage of pancreatic exocrine and endocrine. According to statistics, the prevalence of CP in China is 13/10 million, which is still increasing. Pancreatic duct stones are the most important pathological changes of CP. More than 50% of patients with CP are accompanied by pancreatic duct stones, which can lead to pancreatic duct obstruction, hypertension and tissue ischemia. Removal of pancreatic duct stones under Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) are the first choice. ERCP is effective in the treatment of pancreatic duct stones by using basket and/or balloon catheter. But in most cases, ERCP is only suitable for the treatment of pancreatic duct stones (diameter \< 5mm) located in the head/body of the Pancreatic Duct (PD). PD stones larger than 5mm generally require Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) or Endoscopic Intraductal Lithotripsy (EIL) for pretreatment. EIL includes Electrohydraulic Lithotripsy (EHL) and Laser Lithotripsy (LL). ESWL first locates the stone by X-ray, and then uses an electromagnetic pulse generator to direct a higher-energy shock wave to the stone, so that the stone is crushed by thousands of shock waves. The principle of laser lithotripsy is to make the stone absorb strong infrared rays and generate shock waves to achieve the purpose of fragmenting the stone. In view of the fact that there is no relevant research comparing the overall efficacy of ESWL combined with ERCP and EIL combined with ERCP, it is necessary to evaluate the differences in the therapeutic effects and complications of the two for PD stones. This research helps to provide evidence-based medical evidence, guide physicians' clinical practice, improve the quality of patients' lives, and reduce the economic burden of patients.