Acute biliary pancreatitis and cholecystolithiasis in a child:one time treatment with laparoendoscopic "rendez-vous" procedure

Acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP) is rare in childhood and endoscopic sphincterotomy should be avoided in the child due to the risk of both early and late complications but, when necessary, the optimal timing between endoscopic procedure and cholecystectomy is still uncertain. A nine years old child with acute biliary pancreatitis underwent successful laparo-endoscopic "Rendez-Vous" procedure in which endoscopic drainage of the common bile duct and laparoscopic cholecystectomy were performed simultaneously. This is the first case reported of laparo-endoscopic Rendez-Vous in a child. The excellent outcome of this patient and the review of the literature concerning other available options for the treatment of such cases suggest that this procedure offers great advantages, especially in children, of reducing the required number of treatments, the risk of ineffectiveness, the number of anaesthesia, the length of hospital stay and the risk of iatrogenic morbidity.