• Corpus ID: 41431706

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography-Analysis of 543 Procedures at the Kreiskrankenhaus Schongau [ Schongau Hospital ] 2006-2011 and Comparison with Literature

@inproceedings{Schierghofer2015EndoscopicRC,
  title={Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography-Analysis of 543 Procedures at the Kreiskrankenhaus Schongau [ Schongau Hospital ] 2006-2011 and Comparison with Literature},
  author={Kerstin Schierghofer and Andreas Eder and Ursula Gresser},
  year={2015}
}

• Kerstin Schierghofer, A. Eder, U. Gresser
• Published 2015
• Medicine

Background: Despite progress in non-invasive imaging methods of the bile and pancreatic duct, ERCP and endoscopic sphincterotomy are live methods and continue to provide the means for therapeutic intervention and cytological diagnostics. Because of the invasive and high-risk character of these methods, health professionals worldwide are attempting to minimize complication rates. There is a growing opinion throughout the scientific community that invasive procedures such as ERCP and EPT should only be performed at large centers with a high examination frequency and consequently practice related lower rates of complications. In Germany, this aim is currently supported by law. There is an existing trend to close down smaller hospitals – predominantly in rural areas. To a certain degree,the political agendas that would make these closures are motivated by economics. However, long travel times for patients, the lack of social support, the lack of knowledge of a patient’s entire medical history and the ties of a patient to a near-by hospitals are set off against quality. The aim towards specialization is further accelerating this development. In this study, we were able to show that a small hospital with a welltrained medical staff can provide an equal or even better quality of care than major centers.