Primary Needle-Knife Fistulotomy Versus Standard… : Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology
on approaches in certain papilla morphologies. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of 2 cannulation methods, including primary needle-knife fistulotomy (pNKF) and standard transpapillary (STP), in patients with long-size papilla. METHODS: A total of 260 patients with intact long-size papilla were enrolled and were randomly assigned to the pNKF or STP groups (n = 130 in each group). The primary endpoint was the rate of postendoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis. Biliary cannulation success rates, the duration of cannulation and the overall procedure, and the incidence of adverse events were also compared between the groups. All of the patients were hospitalized for at least 24 hours after the procedure. RESULTS: A total of 125 (96.2%) patients in the pNKF and 114 (87.7%) patients in the STP groups had successful primary biliary cannulation (P = 0.01) and were included in the final analysis. Postendoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogra
