[Diagnosis of biliary dyskinesia after cholecystectomy]

In patients with upper abdominal complaints after cholecystectomy the normal and disordered bile flow was evaluated using quantitative scintigraphy after initially excluding organic etiology. A continuous intravenous infusion of cholecystokinin and secretin for one hour resulted in an accelerated bile flow in the majority of these patients, which is the normal reaction of the biliary system under stimulation. On the contrary, a bolus injection of these hormones led to marked delay of flow in a group of the study population, a condition taken as a paradoxical reaction to cholecystokinin. Although all of the patients with this paradoxical reaction did complain of typical biliary pain, a causal association is, however, yet to be proved. Nitrates can be helpful in the differential diagnosis of impeded bile flow, a lack of response being a possible sign of organic hindrance at the papilla of Vater.