In order to prevent serious complications after ERCP, we have performed extrinic biliary drainage through nose in 20 cases, among them 10 were benign obstructive jaundice, and 10 malignant. During ERCP, a retaining catheter (Olympus PR—5E) was left in the bile duct, with the other end connecting to a bottle out of nose. Among the 10 benign cases, this kind of drainage was successfully done, while only 5 were satisfactorily drained in the 10 malignant cases. Fever and leucocytosis subsided after the procedure. The average duration of catheterization was 12.5 days with the longest of 38 days.