Spontaneous Biliary-Enteric Fistulas and Associated Complications: An Overview

Spontaneous biliary-enteric fistula (SBEF) is an abnormal communication between the biliary tree and the gastrointestinal tract which develops as a result of biliary or gastrointestinal disease. Iatrogenic fistulas, due to surgery or instrumental exploration, are not included in this definition. R. Colombo, in 1559, was the first to describe SBEF as an occasional finding during an autopsy. In almost 90% of cases the cause of SBEF is chronic recurrent cholelithiasis. Less common causes are penetrating peptic ulcers and neoplastic infiltration from the biliary or gastrointestinal tract. The most common type of SBEF is cholecystoduodenal fistula and the least common is choledochoduodenal fistula. There are various complications associated with SBEF but often these are not promptly recognized by patients or physicians and diagnosis and treatment may be delayed for years. The most important complication, which can be considered pathognomonic for SBEF, is gallstone ileus which manifests clinically as acute or chronic mechanical intestinal obstruction. Gallstone ileus, a rather rare complication of a rather common pathology, biliary lithiasis, is found in 0.000015% of hospitalized patients but in 0.0003% of surgical patients. It is mainly found in women over the age of 65, with a male to-female ratio of 1:5. There are various forms of occlusion, related to the sites of gallstone impaction, with various clinical characteristics and degrees of severity. These include Bouveret syndrome ( 10% of cases) with impaction in duodenum or pylorus, and the more common Barnard's syndrome (5-75% of cases) in which the site of impaction is in the terminal ileum right before Bauhin's valve. For diagnosis, the radiological signs which make up Riglerâ??s triad or tetrad, are essential, and are best visible on magnetic resonance. The the gold standard is contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan. Regarding the surgical management, one-stage simple enterolithotomy is reserved for the oldest patients and the most severe cases. Nowadays, is performed more and more frequently by laparoscopy. In more favorable cases radical treatment of the occlusion, the biliary lithiasis and the SBEF is recommended, either as a one-stage procedure or in two stages with the second procedure performed after few weeks.