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[Influence of age and biliary lithiasis on the diameter of the common bile duct]
M Barthet1, S Spinoza, C Affriat
1Service d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie, Hôpital Sainte-Marguerite, Marseille.
Objective:
To determine the influence of age and biliary lithiasis in the dilatation of the biliary ducts, a retrospective analysis was performed of the cholangiograms obtained by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in patients presenting or with a past-history of biliary lithiasis and in controls.
Methods:
Among 165 patients, 113 had choledocolithiasis (53 had gallstones, 50 had been cholecystectomized and 10 had no gallstones), 35 had gallstones and 17 had been cholecystectomized for gallstones.
Results:
The diameter of the main biliary duct was significantly increased in the presence of common bile duct stones (14.0 +/- 4.9 mm), in cholecystectomized patients (11.7 +/- 4.3 mm), in presence of gallstones (9.2 +/- 2.4 mm). The diameter of the biliary ducts was significantly correlated with age in patients (r = 0.27; P = 0.001) and in controls (r = 0.31; P = 0.02). The different factors related to the dilatation of the main biliary duct were classified using a stepwise discriminant analysis: 1: choledocolithiasis, 2: age, 3: cholecystectomy, 4: gallstones.
Conclusion:
There is a moderate but significant statistical correlation between age and the dilatation of the common bile duct, independent of the presence of biliary lithiasis.