EPBD for CBDSs was first reported in 1982 by Staritz et al [
32]. EPBD has the advantages of preserving the function of the sphincter of Oddi and a low risk of hemorrhage and perforation compared with EST [
21,
22,
23]. Yasuda et al [
25] compared the basal and maximal pressures and contraction frequencies of the sphincter muscles of the papilla in the EST and EPBD groups at 1 week and 1 year after endoscopic treatment using manometry. Sphincter pressure at 1 week was low in both groups. After 1 year, the EST group showed no recovery in basal or maximal pressure, whereas the EPBD group showed an obvious recovery of both pressures; however, the recovery was lower than the previous value. It is considered that the loss of papillary function causes reflux of digestive fluids and bacteria into the bile ducts [
18,
19,
20], thereby leading to various complications. Several studies have attributed the lower incidence of long-term stone recurrence and cholangitis in the EPBD group compared with that in the EST group to papillary function preservation [
21,
22,
23]. In contrast, the risk of PEP has been reported to be higher than that of EST [
21,
22,
23,
33]. Therefore, the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) clinical guidelines for CDBSs state that EPBD without EST is primarily indicated for patients with abnormalities in coagulation and stones smaller than 8 mm [
34]. Children with CBDSs have mainly been treated by EST. Reports of children treated by EST in high-volume centers since 2000 are presented in
Table 2 [
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17]. The success rate of stone removal was high, ranging from 83% to 100% (mean, 96%). To the best of our knowledge, the youngest reported case of stone removal by EST is a 3-month-old boy who developed CBDSs following chemotherapy for a malignant tumor [
35]. In contrast, only a few reports of EPBD in children less than 15 years of age have been conducted (
Table 3) [
26,
27,
28]. This may be due to the high PEP incidence in Europe and the United States, which is why it is not aggressively performed. Although the number of EPBD cases in children is small, the success rate of stone removal was 100%. The PEP incidence by EST at high-volume centers of pediatric facilities is described by dividing the number of PEP cases by the total number of ERCPs [
11,
12,
15,
16]. In this study, the percentages were calculated by dividing the number of PEP cases by the number of EST cases performed. This method of calculation is considered to be a more realistic estimate of PEP incidence in children, with rates ranging from 1.3% to 5.4% (mean, 4.4%). According to a meta-analysis of adults, the frequency of PEP ranged from 0% to 18.8% [
22,
23,
36], suggesting that PEP frequency is not much different from that in children. The frequency of bleeding following EST in children ranged from 1.3% to 5.4% (mean, 2.7%), and this frequency was calculated in the same way as for PEP. The frequency of bleeding in adults was approximately 0%–26% (mean, 3.4%) [
22,
23,
36], and the frequency of occurrence was not expected to differ from that in children. In adult cases, grade of bleeding after EST was reported as moderate (45.8%–71%) and severe (25%–29%) [
37,
38]. Anticoagulants, cirrhosis, and end-stage renal disease were noted as a risk factor for bleeding [
38]. However, the grade of post EST bleeding was mostly mild (87%) in average risk adult patients [
39]. Generally, the risk factors of post-EST bleeding in children are rare; seven cases of bleeding were mild (64%) and four cases were moderate (36%), indicating a high rate of moderate bleeding. In children, bleeding following EST is associated with a high risk of blood transfusion. Conversely, in EPBD in children [
26,
27,
28], all complications were PEP, with a frequency of 6 of the 13 cases (46%) (five mild cases and one moderate case), which is clearly higher than that of EST. This PEP frequency in children is also higher than that in adults who underwent EPBD [0%–11.3% (mean, 7.0%)] [
22,
23,
36]. Balloon diameter and dilation time have been identified as factors associated with PEP following EPBD [
34]. Regarding balloon diameter, a comparison has been made between EPBD and endoscopic papillary large balloon dilation (EPLBD) in adults [
40]. The frequency of PEP is lower with EPLBD than with EPBD [
41,
42]. Even with the use of a small-diameter balloon (3–8 mm), the situation in infants may be similar to that in which EPLBD is performed. The ESGE [
34] and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy [
43] also state that a dilation time longer than 2 min carries less risk of PEP. In contrast, Wang et al. (2021) [
44] reported a systematic review and meta-analysis of EPBD according to balloon dilation time. They classified the dilation times into short dilation times of <1 min and long dilation times of >1 min and noted no difference in complications or successful stone removal rates between the short and long dilation times. In children who underwent EPBD [
26,
27,
28], the dilation time was relatively short, ranging from 15 to 75 s. This is believed to be because children have softer tissues than adults, which may have led to the shorter balloon dilation time. Furthermore, we set a short dilation time (30 s) for infants. PEP frequently occurred in children who underwent EPBD, mostly with mild cases, with a rapid increase in pancreatic enzyme levels following EPBD; however, most children had a rapid return to normal range within a few days. No mortality or severe pediatric cases of PEP due to EPBD were reported. Therefore, we supposed that papillary edema rapidly improves owing to soft tissues in children following EPBD.
This study had some limitations. The most significant point was the small number of pediatric EPBD cases, particularly in infants. Only a few studies on pediatric EPBD have been conducted in Europe and the United States, and we need to wait for more cases to be accumulated in the future. Moreover, the balloon dilation time for pediatric EPBD was relatively short. Performing dilatations of 2 min or longer to compare cases will be necessary.