[Laparoscopic treatment of Mirizzi's syndrome]

The Mirizzi syndrome is an unusual benign obstructive jaundice due to extrinsic mechanical compression of the common hepatic duct by gallstone impacted within the neck or cystic duct of the gallbladder. This syndrome is described either as an acute form due only to extrinsic compression of the common bile duct (type I) or as a chronic form resulting in an erosive cholecysto-choledochal fistula (type II). Up to date, the syndrome remains a clinically and surgically challenging problem. The anatomic basic of the syndrome (an anomalous relationship between the cystic duct and the common hepatic duct) when associated with inflammation and interbiliary fistula predisposes to a critical situation to be clearly detected and contributes to technical difficulties when surgical management is performed. The operative diagnosis of Mirizzi syndrome remains elusive and requires careful scrutiny of the biliary tract imaging to recognize the diseased duct system and to facilitate the following operative procedures. The surgical treatment requires a skill and careful operative dissection of the duct system, cholecystectomy and a safe biliary exploration and stone clearance, avoiding any iatrogenic damage to common hepatic duct. Laparotomy is commonly advocated as the safer approach to the diseased biliary tract and it is still employed by most authors. The laparoscopic surgery has not yet entered as the first-choice procedure for this syndrome due to jaundice and acute inflammation considered by some as contraindication to mini-invasive treatment. This paper describes successful surgical management by laparoscopic techniques in two patients affected by Mirizzi type I and type II syndrome treated by cholecystectomy alone and cholecystectomy with choledochal fistula flap repair, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)