[Percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy for gallstone therapy and tumor diagnosis]

Using percutaneous-transhepatic cholangioscopy with a guided small calibre, cholangioscope (3.5 mm) in patients with obstructive jaundice it is possible to perform biopsies under visual control or to look for the exact intraductal extension of a tumor with only little stain on the patient. The access may be via a puncture of the right or the left hepatic duct. Since 1987 we have used this method 61 times in 45 patients. Some 32 patients suffered from malignancy of the bile duct. Of 13 patients with benign obstruction we performed a bougienage in 8. The other 5 patients were treated by stone extraction.