Primary needle-knife fistulotomy for preventing post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis: Importance of the endoscopist’s expertise level

Table 2 Baseline characteristics between the conventional technique with sphincterotomy and needle-knife fistulotomy groups

	Conventional technique with sphincterotomy, n = 375, (%)			Primary NKF less-experienced, n = 167, (%)
	Experienced, n = 147, (%)	Less-experienced, n = 228, (%)	P value	Experienced, n = 90, (%)	Less-experienced, n = 77, (%)	P value
Age (yr)	68.8 ± 12.9	68.7 ± 12.1	0.964	63.1 ± 15.6	68.7 ± 14.3
Male	75 (51.0)	130 (57.0)	0.256	54 (60.0)	48 (62.3)	0.759
Periampullary diverticulum	52 (35.4)	68 (29.8)	0.262	29 (32.2)	14 (18.2)	0.039a
Ampulla configurations			0.625			0.265
Non-prominent	0 (0)	0 (0)		0 (0)	0 (0)
Prominent	136 (92.5)	205 (89.9)		69 (76.7)	54 (70.1)
Bulging	8 (5.4)	19 (8.3)		17 (18.9)	16 (20.8)
Distorted	2 (1.4)	3 (1.3)		1 (1.1)	5 (6.50)
Hook-nose shape	1 (0.7)	1 (0.4)		3 (3.3)	2 (2.6)
Malignancy	58 (39.5)	80 (35.1)	0.393	33 (36.7)	29 (37.7)	0.895
Benign diseases	89 (60.5)	148 (64.9)		57 (63.3)	48 (62.3)

^aP < 0.05.

NKF: Needle-knife fistulotomy.