The usefulness of intraoperative drip infusion cholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Intraoperative cholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy has been considered to be a necessary examination because incidental injury to the common bile duct must be avoided. We performed 93 intraoperative drip infusion cholangiographies among 103 laparoscopic cholecystectomized patients as simple examinations by using iotroxic acid. The best drip infusion time was determined to be 20 min and good pictures were obtained from 10 to 60 min after the end of the drip. Nine patients with liver dysfunction and a poor radiograph had poor cholangiograms. Clear cholangiograms were obtained in 79 patients: four had a long remnant cystic duct and, in one case, a common bile duct stenosis was found by endoclip. The findings in these five cases helped us to correct failures during operation.