Pancreato-biliary, Ad hoc Committee

Goals of the WEO Pancreato-biliary Committee:

1. To provide international forum for topics related to pancreato-biliary procedures
2. To promote innovation and effective delivery of pancreato-biliary procedures
3. To collaborate in addressing issues and gaps in ERCP/EUS development of varied countries
4. To support international cooperation to achieve optimal practices and researches in ERCP and EUS

Background

ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography) and EUS (endoscopic ultrasound) emerge as major techniques to managing cholangiopancreatic diseases. Conditions that previously required surgery can now microinvasively be treated endoscopically. These definitely benefit patients. Through the popularization for ERCP and EUS, concerns have emerged which should be considered to promote the clinical efficacy, safety and innovation of pancreato-biliary procedures:

1. Critical standardization of procedural practice, such as sedation practice, indication/case selection and therapeutic decisions
2. Lack of knowledge and research about post-procedural complications
3. Role of MRCP as adjunctive imaging modality alongside ERCP and EUS.
4. The training for pancreato-biliary endoscopy is suboptimal in many regions of the world. The higher risk of complications in these procedures call for stricters standards in ERCP/EUS training.
5. Combined strategies for pancreato-biliary procedures must be further developed; combinations of ERCP/EUS/laparoscopy/transcutaneous procedures.

The committee aims to collaborate with gastroenterologists and other clinical experts to advance pancreato-biliary endoscopy and bring it to a higher level.

Activities:

1. To produce concise recommendations/guidelines with global vision. The recommendations/guidelines aim to be more practical than those derived only by evidence.
2. To promote training and practice guidelines with regional adaptations based on different socioeconomic backgrounds. To improve the quality and access to pancreato-biliary procedures for patients in underserved regions
3. To review novel pancreato-biliary endoscopic advances, assessing their clinical Safety/efficacy and promoting their dissemination as appropriate.
4. To provide more opportunity and access for advanced training
5. To convene WEO sub-committee aiming to represent pancreato-biliary experts worldwide.

The WEO Pancreato-biliary Committee educational offer includes the following courses and programs: