[A study on postoperative bile duct stricture with intrahepatic stones]

From January 1976 through December 1988 we encountered ninety nine cases of intrahepatic stones. Eight of them were complicated with postoperative bile duct strictures which were formed on cholangiojejunostomy in 5 cases, cholangioduodenostomy, hepatic hilum and common hepatic duct in 1 case, respectively. Six cases of them are anastomotic strictures. The stones were mainly composed of bilirubin calcium. We guessed that the bile duct stricture resulted from cholangiojejunostomy without Roux-en-Y in 1 case and anastomotic insufficiency in 5 cases. Intrahepatic stones were removed by percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy (PTCS), and the treatment for the stricture was cholangiojejunostomy in 1 case and the dilatation by PTCS in 5 cases, including 3 endoprostheses by pig-tail silicone catheter and 2 internal-external biliary drainage. Two patients who did not undergo cholangioscopic dilatation died of sepsis due to cholangitis. Three of 5 patients who underwent endoscopic dilatation by PTCS could return to social life without recurrence of gallstones. In other two cases an endoprosthetic catheter was removed by PTCS because of dislodgement or obstruction of the catheter after confirming anastomotic strictures had improved. Authors recommended that PTCS should be applied for postoperative bile duct stricture complicated with intrahepatic stone.