Mehlika Bilgi KIRMACI, Emre BALLI, Cigdem OZDEMIR, Kubra ERTEKIN, Esat Taylan UGURLU, Sezgin YILMAZ
Annals of Clinical and Analytical Medicine - 2026;17(4):308-312
Aim: The present study investigates the role of ERCP procedure in diagnosing ampullary tumors in patients who could only be diagnosed with ERCP. Methods: Forty-four patients diagnosed with ampullary tumors were divided into two groups: Group 1 (n = 28) includes the patients with radiological masses, whereas Group 2 (n = 16) comprises those without detectable masses who were diagnosed with ERCP. The results of these two groups were compared in terms of demographic features, tumor size, endoscopic tumor resectability, bilirubin values, and surgical outcomes. Results: A total of forty-four patients were admitted to our centre with the diagnosis of ampullary tumor; five of them were treated with endoscopic ampullectomy, whereas 39 of them were treated with the Whipple procedure. The mean age of the groups was 67.85 +/- 13.04 years in group 1 and 62.00 +/- 8.43 years in group 2 (p < 0.005). There was no gender difference, but overall, it was observed that ampullary tumors were more common in men than women (26 (59.1%) vs 18 (40.9 %)). The tumor size was bigger in group 1 (2.58 +/- 1.30 cm vs 1.21 +/- 0.66 cm), and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.005). The bilirubin values were significantly higher in group 1 as compared to group 2 (6.67 +/- 5.34 mg/dl vs 3.09 +/- 4.57 mg/dl, p < 0.005). A total of one EA was performed in Group 1 and four patients in Group 2. Conclusion: The present study supports the early use of ERCP to diagnose ampullary tumors in patients with tapering or blunt termination of the bile duct without any mass on radiological images.
