Diagnosis and management of patients with an intermediate probability of choledocholithiasis

Abstract

We thank Dr. Dib for his interest in our prospective study, in which we assessed the accuracy of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines for the prediction of choledocholithiasis (CL). The guidelines suggest the option of using a less-invasive initial test including endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) in patients with intermediate probability of CL. However, there is a paucity of published literature supporting this recommendation. Furthermore, in the study by Adams et al. (3) such a recommendation is not supported by their data. Additionally, because the prevalence of CL varies among ethnic groups, we did not consider performing pre-ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) imaging studies in our study.