Scintigraphic and culdoscopic diagnosis of bile peritonitis complicating liver biopsy

After an ultrasound-guided percutaneous liver biopsy, a 37-year-old woman developed a clinical syndrome suggestive of bile peritonitis, despite the presence of nondilated bile ducts and a surgically absent gallbladder. The diagnosis was established via hepatobiliary scintigraphy, which demonstrated aberrant biliary flow, as well as by culdocentesis, which yielded bilious fluid. The patient was managed medically and recovered uneventfully; follow-up biliary scanning established resolution of bile extravasation.