Positional biliary stasis: scintigraphic findings following biliary-enteric bypass surgery

Hepatobiliary scintigraphy has proven to be a reliable noninvasive imaging modality to evaluate postoperative biliary obstruction, which is a frequent complication following biliary enteric bypass surgery. We present a case of a patient who had biliary enteric bypass surgery with a scintigraphic pattern simulating partial obstruction on a 99mTc hepatobiliary study performed with the patient in a supine position. The biliary stasis seen in the supine images disappeared almost completely when the images were repeated after 30 min in an upright position. Progressive accumulation of activity initially seen in the region of the biliary enteric anastomosis was not present 3 days later on a repeat study with the patient in an upright position, confirming that biliary stasis in this patient was due to a positional phenomenon. This case illustrates that biliary stasis may be positional in nature. Position related stasis should be a consideration when interpreting hepatobiliary scintigraphic studies in postoperative patients and when suspected, patients should be imaged in the upright position.