[A comparison of imaging procedures in the diagnosis of gallbladder and bile duct carcinomas]

Fourteen patients with carcinomas of the gallbladder and eight patients with biliary duct carcinomas were examined by CT, sonography, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) and angiography. The results were compared retrospectively. Sonography proved suitable as a screening method. For accurate demonstration, this should be supplemented by CT. PTC and ERC demonstrate intraductal extension of biliary carcinomas and of gallbladder carcinomas infiltrating the bile ducts. The value of angiography consists merely in the preoperative demonstration of the vascular anatomy.