Objective      To investigate the clinical features and pathogenic factors of recurrent acute pancreatitis (RAP) and the clinical value of endoscopic treatment for improving the diagnosis and treatment of RAP.       Methods      The clinical data of 234 RAP inpatients collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University during Dec. 2004 to Oct. 2011 was analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into an endoscopic treatment group (endoscopic group)

a surgical treatment group (surgical group) and a medicine treatment group (medicine group). The curative effect of each group was followed up

and a comparative analysis of recurrence among the three groups was performed.       Result      The main causes of RAP included biliary tract disease (93 cases

39.8%)

metabolic disease (60 cases

25.6%) and alcohol abuse (46 cases

19.6%). In the 234 cases of RAP

the average recurrence frequency was 1.4 times. The recurrence interval from the initial onset was from 2 to 96 months with an average recurrence interval of (22.5±18.8) months. There were 193 recurrent cases within 3 years with a recurrence rate of 82.5%. The recurrence rates of the endoscopic group and the surgical group after treatment [11/82 (13.4%) and 4/32 (12.5%)] significantly decreased as compared with those [71/82 (86.6%) and 26/32 (81.3%)] within three years before treatment (P0.01). The recurrence rate of the medicine group after treatment was lower than that within three years before treatment [76/120 (63.3%) vs 96/120 (80.0%)

P0.05]. Compared with the medicine treatment

the endoscopic and surgical treatment reduced the recurrence rate of RAP significantly (P0.01).       Conclusion      Biliary

metabolic and alcoholic RAP are the major types of RAP. Endoscopic treatment plays an important role in treatment of RAP by significantly reducing the recurrence rate.