Abstract:Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of early endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) ± endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) and conservative treatment in treatment of acute severe biliary pancreatitis (ASBP).Methods We searched PubMed, web of science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI database, Wanfang database and VIP database for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to early endoscopic intervention and conservative treatment for ASBP, and used RevMan 5.3 software for statistical analysis.Results 10 RCTs involving 806 patients were included. Meta analysis showed that compared with conservative treatment, early endoscopic intervention could reduce the incidence of total complications (O = 0.58, 95%CI: 0.41 ~ 0.82, P = 0.002), systematic complications (O = 0.46, 95%CI: 0.32 ~ 0.67, P = 0.000) and cholangitis (O = 0.11, 95%CI: 0.03 ~ 0.42, P = 0.001). The duration of abdominal pain (MD = -6.09, 95%CI: -7.47~-4.70, P = 0.000) and length of hospital stay (MD = -10.15, 95%CI: -13.20~-7.09, P = 0.000) were shortened. However, there were no significant difference in mortality, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), respiratory failure, local complications, pseudocyst, pancreatic abscess/necrosis between the two groups (P > 0.05).Conclusion Early endoscopic intervention in treatment of ASBP is safe and feasible, and has the advantages of reducing the incidence of complications, relieving abdominal pain and shortening the length of hospital stay, which is expected to become the preferred method for the treatment of ASBP.