[The C tube in biliary surgery--its development and clinical application]

The T tube procedure for bile drainage after biliary surgery has been used all over the world for more than 90 years. However, this method has serious drawbacks: a high complication ratio and a need for long-term hospitalization. Therefore other bile drainage methods including PTGBD, PTBD and ENBD have been developed, but none has so far been able to replace T tube. We have developed a new technique for bile drainage using the C tube (cystic duct tube), which is a slender tube (6Fr. polyvinyl) inserted via the cystic duct into the common bile duct (CBD). We have used C tube in more than 400 cases over the last 20 years: for open surgery during the first 10 years, and for laparoscopic surgery in the last 10 years. Here we describe the history of improvements in the C tube method and the techniques of C tube application in biliary surgery. Elastic surgical suture has been used to fix the C tube to the cystic duct, which successfully prevented bile leakage from the ductal stump after withdrawal of the tube. C tube is not only used for postoperative bile drainage but also for the management of remnant stones. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and benefits of the C tube procedure.

I: From 1980 to 1998, 335 cholecystectomized cases which had undergone the C tube procedure were examined for complications resulting from C tube placement. II: We analyzed 134 patients with choledocholithiasis: 34 patients had been treated using C tube drainage, and 100 patients had been treated with the T tube procedure after undergoing CBD exploration. The main outcome criteria were: the frequency of post-operative complications, quantity of bile drainage, drainage period, and length of post-operative hospital stay. III: Between 1990 and 1999, 131 patients (15.2%) of a total of 860 laparoscopically cholecystectomized patients with gallstones underwent C tube treatment. We assessed the usefulness of the C tube procedure for the detection and management of remnant stones.

I: There were no major complications (bile-leakage, CBD stenosis, etc.) in 335 cases which underwent the C tube procedure. Minor complications related to C tube were: spontaneous withdrawal of the tube in 5 cases, movement of the tube tip in 17 cases, and difficulties during tube removal in 32 cases which included slight resistance. Two cases had liver dysfunction (GOT 705 IU/l and 488 IU/l), although this was easily normalized after withdrawal of the tube tip from the duodenal papillae into the CBD. II: The frequency of complications in patients who underwent the C tube procedure was zero, whilst in the T tube group the major complication rate was 3% and the minor complication rate was 21%. The quantity of bile drainage was 283.6 +/- 22.9 ml/day in the C tube group compared with 302.7 +/- 10.3 ml/day in the T tube group, showing no significant difference. The drainage period (5.9 +/- 0.6 days) in the C tube group was significantly shorter than in the T tube group (27.7 +/- 0.9 days). Hospital stays (11.6 +/- 0.6 days) in the C tube group were significantly shorter than in the T tube group (45.0 +/- 1.5 days). III: Remnant CBD stones were detected by postoperative cholangiography via the C tube in 28 (21.4%) of the C tube replacement cases and in 3.3% of all the laparoscopically cholecystectomized patients. Seventeen patients with remnant stones were managed using glyceryl trinitrate CBD perfusion-induced relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi. The remaining patients were managed with endoscopic papillary balloon dilatation (EPBD) and/or endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) without reoperation. We also have described other applications of the C tube procedure for the evaluation of sphincter of Oddi motility as an indication for EST, for bile drainage in liver resection, in the treatment of liver injuries, and for duodenal decompression after duodenal surgery. Finally we have mentioned the possibility of C tube application in the management of obstructive jaundice and bile drainage in liver transplantation surgery.

The C tube method in biliary surgery is safe and useful in comparison with the T tube method. We are strongly convinced that the T tube will be completely replaced by the C tube.