What does ERCP stand for?

• A. Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography
• B. Endoscopic Radiologic Cholangiography
• C. Endoscopic Retrograde Cystopancreatography
• D. Endoscopic Resection Cholangiopancreatography

Answer: (A)

ERCP stands for Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography. The name describes its flow: an endoscope is used to access the duodenum, a catheter is guided into the bile duct, and a contrast dye is injected in a retrograde (backward) fashion to visualize the biliary and pancreatic ducts on X-ray. This technique images both the biliary tree (cholangiography) and the pancreatic ducts (pancreatography), and it can also be used for therapeutic interventions like stone extraction or stent placement. The other terms don’t fit because they either misname the structures involved (cystopancreatography would imply the cystic area rather than the biliary/pancreatic ducts) or omit either the endoscopic access, the retrograde contrast flow, or the combined biliary and pancreatic imaging that ERCP provides.