Cholecystcholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy: cholecystcholangiography or cystic duct cholangiography

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is being used more frequently in the treatment of symptomatic cholelithiasis. The procedure as originally described was performed with cystic duct cholangiography. An alternate technique of performing cholangiography is cholecystcholangiography. Because of the objections that have been voiced concerning direct gallbladder injections namely, reliability of the technique, quality of the studies, and the risk of forcing stones into the common bile duct this study was performed. Subjects were 25 consecutive patients who underwent cholecystcholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A standard technique was developed and used. Studies were graded from 0 to 5 depending upon quality with 5 being the best and 0 the worst. A 5 consisted of visualization of all of the biliary tract structures and the duodenum and a 0 consisted of visualization of only the gallbladder. Acceptable studies (graded 3, 4, or 5) were obtained in 20 patients (80%). An inability to obtain an acceptable study could usually be determined prior to contrast injection. Accordingly there would be no time delay in proceeding directly to cystic duct cholangiography. In our patients, 48% had stones in the gallbladder smaller than the caliber of the cystic duct. Based upon the results of this study we believe that cholecystcholangiography is the technique of choice for intraoperative cholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In patients in whom this technique is not feasible the surgeon should proceed directly to cystic duct cholangiography. There was no added risk to the patient when cholecystcholangiography was performed. There was a benefit in terms of the ease of the procedure and the performance of the procedure over cystic duct cholangiography. The determination of ductal anatomy prior to cystic duct dissection may be important in minimizing the risk of ductal injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.