[Retention jaundice caused by central hepatic hepatoma. Treatment with Kron's extra-anatomic biliary prosthesis]

A 31 year-old patient presented with a retention jaundice from a centrally located hepatoma invading the hilum. Because of the patient's age and the severity of the pruritus and jaundice, palliative treatment was performed by percutaneous catheterization of the intrahepatic biliary tracts to drain the right and left hepatic canals. As the hilar stenosis could not be overcome, the external drainage was transformed into internal drainage by implantation of a Kron's biliary prosthesis linking the intrahepatic biliary tracts, following segment III hepatotomy, to the duodenal lumen, with burying of the prosthesis in the gastric antrum region. Jaundice was reduced until death of the patients from metastases 6 months later. This case demonstrates that the use of Kron's biliary prosthesis to perform a biliodigestive shunt from intrahepatic biliary pathways is a valid palliative procedure in patients with limited life expectancies.