[Management of patients with iatrogenic bile duct injury]

The aim of this study is to present an analysis of 30 patients with major bile duct injuries in a single hospital centre.

From January 2001 to December 2006, a prospective database was kept of all patients with a bile duct injury (BDI) following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Patients' charts were reviewed to analyse perioperative surgical management.

Over 6 years, 30 patients were treated for a major BDI. Patient demographics were not notable for 16 women (53%) and 14 men (47%) with a mean age of 58.9 years. Twenty of them sustained their BDI at another hospital. The mean interval from the time of BDI to referral was 17.4 days. A total of 30 patients underwent definitive biliary reconstruction, including 17 hepaticojejunostomies (56.7%), 8 end-to-end repairs (20%), 2 choledochoduodenostomies (6.7%), 3 liver transplantations (10%), 1 hepatectomy and 1 Whipple (3.3%). There were 2 deaths in the postoperative period (6.7%). Thirteen (43.3%) sustained at least 1 postoperative complication. The most common complications were cholangitis (20%), and intra-abdominal abscess/biloma (23.3%). The mean postoperative length of stay was 17.46 days.

Bile duct injury is a serious complication that affects mostly individuals with benign disease. Various subsequent procedures (surgical and/or endoscopic) are almost always necessary for its correction, with a high socioeconomic cost that imposes great suffering on the patients and their relatives. Clearly, all efforts should be made to prevent such accidents.