Safety of immediate endoscopic sphincterotomy in acute suppurative cholangitis caused by choledocholithiasis

To examine the safety of immediate endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) in patients with acute suppurative cholangitis (ASC) caused by choledocholithiasis, as compared with elective EST.Patients with ASC due to choledocholithiasis were allocated to two groups: Those who underwent EST immediately and those who underwent EBD followed by EST 1 wk later because they were under anticoagulant therapy, had a coagulopathy (international normalized ratio >...