Objective@#Acute
cholangitis is a clinical condition caused by
infection of an obstructed
biliary system, which is normally managed with intravenous fluids,
antibiotics, and biliary
drainage. Although
endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (
ERCP) is the preferred
method of biliary
drainage, guidelines for biliary
drainage time remain unclear. @*
Methods@#The current
research is a
retrospective study of
patients with acute
cholangitis who had undergone
ERCP between January 2016 and December 2019. We investigated the effect of the
time taken from visit to the
emergency department and commencement of the
ERCP, on
hospital length of stay. @*Results@#A total of 441
patients were included in this study. No
association was observed between the severity of acute
cholangitis and
ERCP time. However, the length of
hospital stay was significantly shorter for
patients who underwent
ERCP less than 12 hours after arrival at the
emergency department. @*Conclusion@#Conducting
ERCP within 12 hours of arrival is associated with reduced
hospital stays, regardless of the severity of acute
cholangitis.