[Endoscopic ultrasonography in choledocholithiasis]

Diagnosis of choledocholithiasis is still difficult to establish and presents a great challenge in gastroenterology and surgery of biliary tract, since it requires expensive and sophisticated examining techniques. 10 to 15% of patients with symptomatic cholelithiasis were presented with choledocholithiasis as well. By EUS is possible to establish a diagnosis of choledocholithiasis with accuracy of 90 to 100% and precisely estimate dimensions of revealed stones. The main purpose of this survey is to present a great importance and many advantages of EUS as a contemporary diagnostic method. All patients were examined by Olympus equipment for endoscopic ultrasound with radial probe working with the frequency of 7,5 and 12 MHz at the Department for Endoscopic Ultrasound of the Clinic for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center of Serbia. They were previously diagnosed with choledocholithiasis by ERCP method. We examined 16 patients, which were selected by estimated risk for cholelithiasis. We have tried to evaluate the importance of diameter of choledochus, defined by common ultrasonography, as well as values of alkaline phosphatase and serum ?GT. We defined 3 groups of patients: group no.1, with 2 patients presented with a low risk for choledocholithiasis; group no.2, with 6 patients with a moderate risk for choledocholithiasis, and group no.3, with 8 patients presented with significant risk for cholelithiasis. According to obtained results, EUS presents the most effective method for detecting of choledocholithiasis, which is sometimes even more efficient than ERCP. After choledocholithiasis is previously revealed by EUS, it is much easier to decide if some invasive method such as EPT or precut papillotomy has to be used. EUS is always recommended as a diagnostic method when it is necessary to avoid some expected complications, such as pancreatitis.