Laparoscopic cholangiography: a new technique for difficult cannulation

Laparoscopic surgery has become accepted in the United States as the surgical procedure of choice for treatment of symptomatic cholelithiasis. The general surgeon is now presented with a vast array of instrumentation and new techniques that have rapidly developed since the introduction of laparoendoscopic surgery. Much of this new technology is designed for easier and less expensive laparoscopic cholangiography. We describe a technique for difficult cannulation of the cystic duct using a new introducer (the DeKalb wire introducer) when conventional methods have failed.