Reoperation for benign biliary tract diseases in 149 cases: causes and prevention

Failure to diagnose and treat benign biliary tract disease relatively common surgical disease may cause serious consequences. Since the introduction of B-mode ultrasonography, CT, or MRI early and accurate diagnosis of the disease has been possible. In clinical practice, however, these methods have not been adequately used. Inappropriate surgical procedures can also lead to bile duct injury or stenosis after injury, residual cholecystitis, stenosis after cholangiojejunostomy, or stenosis of the Oddi's sphincter. But improvement of the diagnosis and treatment of benign biliary tract disease remains a great challenge to clinicians.

A total of 149 patients with benign biliary tract disease who had received reoperation from June 1988 to June 2001 were analyzed retrospectively. Among them 95 patients (63.76%) received operation twice and 38 (25.5%) underwent 3 operations. Sixteen patients (10.74%) needed 4 or more operations. The procedures for the first operation included cholecystectomy (71 patients, 47.65%), cholecystectomy with exploration of the common bile duct (42, 28.19%), cholangiojejunostomy (21, 14.1%), and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (15, 10.06%).

The causes for reoperation included residual and recurrent bile duct stones in 53 patients (35.57%), bile duct injury or stenosis after injury in 41 (27.52%), residual cholecystitis with or without stones in 28 (18.8%), stenosis after cholangiojejunostomy in 17 (11.41%), stenosis of the Oddi's sphincter in 5 (5.35%), and others in 5 (5.35%). Four patients (2.68%) died after operation.

To prevent reoperation for benign biliary tract diseases, the following measures should be taken to increase preoperative diagnostic rate, to understand conditions of the biliary tract by using imaging techniques and cholangiography, to examine comprehensively and carefully with choledochoscopy, cholangiography and B-mode ultrasonography intraoperatively, to choose appropriate operative procedures to decrease the rate of residual stones, and to decide the time for the first repair according to injury type of the bile duct. Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy with cholangioplasty is the best operation for the reconstruction of the biliary tract.