Safety and Efficacy of a Newly Developed Baby-sphincterotome for Bile Duct Cannulation

Precut-sphincterotomy is a well established alternative after repeated futile attempts for common bile duct (CBD) cannulation with standard catheters and/or guide-wires fail. Commonly used devices instruments for pre-cutting are the needle-knife and the Erlangen-type precut-sphincterotome. In 1996 a so called \"baby-sphincterotome\" (Easy-Cut®, MTW, Wesel, Germany) with a pre-shaped-bended (to facilitate biliary access) small-calibre 3-French tip was developed, which enables cannulation and pre-cutting in one step. Here the investigators report on the clinical evaluation of this device.