[Physico-chemical parameters of bile in evaluating the course of an inflammatory process in the biliary tract]

Bile electric conductivity and pH were studied in dynamics in 165 patients with acute cholecystitis. The bile was obtained from drains of the gallbladder, choledochus and its terminal part and from percutaneous-transhepatic cholangiostoma. The results of the study proved that the combined changes of the mentioned physicochemical parameters of the bile are determined by the course of the inflammatory process in the biliary tract and pancreas and by the degree of hepatic functional insufficiency. The study demonstrated that in intensification of the inflammation in the biliary tract the changes of bile pH and electric conductivity occur 24-36 hours before the changes of clinical and laboratory parameters. On basis of the changes of the mentioned bile physicochemical parameters the authors determined the terms for removing the drain from the gallbladder and the choledochus and the possibility for undertaking an operation for cleansing the biliary tract, and introduced corrections into the postoperative conservative treatment.