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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration in Patients with a Previous History of Biliary Tract Surgery
Published on: February 10, 2023
My patient has got abdominal pain: identifying biliary problems
Michael Y Woo1, Mark Taylor1, Osama Loubani2
1Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada.
Abstract:
Right upper quadrant and epigastric abdominal pain are common presenting complaints in the emergency department. With increasing access to point-of-care ultrasound, emergency physicians now have an added tool to help identify biliary problems as a cause of a patient's right upper quadrant pain. Point-of-care ultrasound has a sensitivity of 89.8% (95% CI 86.4-92.5%) and specificity of 88.0% (83.7-91.4%) for cholelithiasis, very similar to radiology-performed ultrasonography. In addition to assessment for cholelithiasis and cholecystitis, point-of-care ultrasound can help emergency physicians to determine whether the biliary system is the source of infection in patients with suspected sepsis. Use of point-of-care ultrasound for the assessment of the biliary system has resulted in more rapid diagnosis, decreasing costs, and shorter emergency department length of stay.
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