A radionuclide study on the effectiveness of drainage after elective cholecystectomy

Passive drainage after elective cholecystectomy was studied in six patients. Their erythrocytes were labeled in vitro with technetium-99mTc and injected via the drain after operation. After one hour, we were able to recover labeled erythrocytes and free pertechnetate from peripheral blood. After 24 hours, a large part of the injected erythrocytes had been evacuated via the drain. In eight patients subjected to cholecystectomy, 99mTc-HIDA was injected intravenously after the operation. In four cases, in which the gallbladder bed was raw, the activity ratio discharge/blood rapidly reached extremely high values. In the other four cases, in which the liver surface had not been denuded, the ratio was much lower. Passive drainage is a useful device for evacuation intra-abdominal bile or hemolysed blood after cholecystectomy, especially when the gallbladder bed has been denuded.