A case of chronic pancreatitis with complete removal of pancreatic stones by grasping forceps

The patient was a 64-year-old male as a habitual drinker (ethanol amount: 60-80g/day) who visited us for possible chronic pancreatitis in health examination. In abdominal CT findings, we found 3 pancreatic stones in main pancreatic duct of pancreas head and main pancreatic duct dilatation, so we diagnosed it as alcoholic chronic pancreatitis. With ERCP, we could perform the partial removal with 4-wire basket catheter after EPST, but it was still difficult to remove other stones. After two session of ESWL, we successfully removed other stones using grasping forceps (FG-8U-1, Olympus Co.) under fluoroscopic guidance. The abdominal CT findings showed no residual stone after 2 months. The endoscopic lithotomy for pancreatic stone was very difficult in some cases. However removal technique using grasping forceps is useful for some difficult cases.