Endoscopic Sphincterotomy before Fully Covered Metal Stent Placement Is Not Required for Distal Malignant Biliary Stricture due to a Pancreatic Head Tumor

Table 1

Comparison of patient characteristics between the EST and non-EST groups.

	EST group; ()	Non-EST group; ()	value
Age ()			0.240
Sex (male/female)	15/17	22/14	0.239
Pancreatic cancer	30	34	0.693
Metastatic pancreatic cancer	2	2	0.693
Periampullary diverticulum	5	3	0.579

EST: endoscopic sphincterotomy; SD: standard deviation.