CLINICAL USEFULNESS OF A NEW MINISCOPE IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF PANCREATICDISEASE

Recently, several prototypes of pancreatoscopes for use with a duodeno scope have been developed.(1-3) However, peroral transpapillary pancre atoscopy has not yet become a well-established and widely available pr ocedure in the diagnosis of pancreatic diseases. This may be explained mainly by mechanical problems in the instruments and partly by the la ck of thorough knowledge about the efficacy of the procedure. In this study, a new high-resolution miniscope was employed, permitting transp apillary endoscopic exploration of the entire main pancreatic duct (MP D) with a built-in working channel and a balloon available for centeri ng the view. The aim of this report is to evaluate the usefulness of t he new miniscope with special reference to the diagnostic contribution s of pancreatoscopy.