Choledochocholecystojejunostomy: a quick, effective method of biliary decompression for carcinoma of the pancreas

The frequency of pancreatic carcinoma appears to be increasing. Effective treatment is essential for most patients whose tumours are unresectable. Definitive treatment by stenting techniques are currently limited to those patients who are high surgical risks, elderly, present with metastatic disease or refuse the surgical option. Surgical bypass offers the best palliation and should reliably decompress the biliary obstruction caused by the tumour with the least surgical trauma. Roux-en-Y choledochojejunostomy (CDJ), with or without a gastroenterostomy, is usually the preferred method of bypass; however, for patients with a distended gallbladder this procedure is often made easier by its removal. Even then providing a proximal, tension-free anastomosis can be challenging. In 13 consecutive patients who still had a gallbladder and required a biliary bypass for carcinoma of the pancreas, the authors interposed the gallbladder between the proximal bile ducts and a Roux-en-Y loop. This procedure could be done more quickly than CDJ and performed well.