One treatment your doctor may recommend during the ERCP is sphincterotomy. This would be the case if your doctor discovers that you have a gallstone or other blockage in one of your ducts. Sphincterotomy means enlarging the opening of the bile duct, allowing the stone to be removed in a tiny basket or left to pass into the intestine. This will improve drainage through the duct without surgery.

The condition of all your ducts as well as your general health and age are taken into consideration before your doctor performs this procedure.