[Duodeno-biliary reflux during T-tube drainage: a clinical study]

The relationship between duodeno-biliary reflux and bile bacterial contamination was studied in 28 consecutive cases of T-tube drainage after cholecystectomy and choledochotomy. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of 14 each. Group I treated with positive pressure drainage (PPD), with the pressure in T-tube 0.3-0.5 kPa higher than that created by sphincter resistance. Group II treated with traditional negative pressure drainage (NPD). It was found that the amount of duodenal reflux in group II was obviously larger than that in group I. We conclude that the traditional T-tube drainage incurs inevitably contamination of bacteria to bile by way of duodenal reflux. It is the consequence of bile flow dynamic disorder. PPD raises the bypass outflow resistance against the duodenal reflux and is thus superior to NPD.