[Percutaneous interventions on the bile duct in obstructive jaundice. A meaningful or excruciating prolongation of...

The percutaneous transhepatic access to the bile duct opens a wide spectrum of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This means specific diagnosis and therapy of the obstructive jaundice even in patients in bad general conditions and therefore unfavourable prognosis. As in most cases curative therapy is no longer possible, survival time can be taken into consideration. There are no great problems concerning the performance of technical procedures. But it is the justifiability of the interventions that has to be reconsidered in each of the cases. The facts that the quality of life can be improved and the possibility to discharge the patient as soon as possible should be the guidelines in having the patients undergo these therapeutic procedures. The evaluation of our case material from 1985-1991 show that just in this respect the introduction of the endoprosthesis (thick calibrated endoprosthesis, stents) is a great progress, with a mean survival time between 8 and 10 months, and with normalization of laboratory values in 75-100%.