[Percutaneous transhepatic bile duct drainage for obstructive jaundice (author's transl)]

Palliative percutaneous bile duct drainage was carried out in five patients with obstructive jaundice due to inoperable tumours. In four patients drainage was continued for a long period, in one patient for only one day. The bile duct was punctured by transhepatic cholangiography. It was then catheterised and a drainage catheter introduced into the duodenum in order to produce both internal and external drainage. This procedure, which carries few complications, produces a rapid reduction of jaundice and disappearance of pruritus. It does not increase the expectation of life, which depends on the underlying disease. Experience with this method may be of value in benign stenoses or in pre-operative drainage.