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Precut sphincterotomy is a technique employed to gain access to the common bile duct (CBD) when standard methods using catheters, cannulatomes, and guidewires have failed. It is particularly useful in cases of distal biliary strictures or distal impacted stones and in patients with Billroth II gastrectomies who require papillotomy. It significantly improves the overall success rate of CBD access. This technique should only be used, however, when a therapeutic maneuver is anticipated, and it has no place in diagnostic imaging. In the hands of experienced, skillful endoscopists, the complication rate is comparable with that of standard sphincterotomy.

Corpus atrophy as defined by the Sydney System is reversible in some patients after H. pylori eradication. Improvement in atrophy is associated with a fall in fasting plasma gastrin levels. This may have implications in the prevention of gastric carcinoma.

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