[Minimally invasive interventions in treatment of mechanical jaundice]

For the period from 1972 to 1997 676 transcutaneous transhepatic and 370 endoscopical interventions in 953 patients with mechanical jaundice were carried out. In 58.5% of cases jaundice was caused by malignancies, in 41.4%--by benign strictures of bile ducts. 40 external biliary bypasses, 427 external-internal biliary bypasses, 55 cholecystostomies and 154 operations of biliary endoprosthetic reconstructions were conducted under US control and TV imaging. In 33.5% of cases biliary bypass and endoscopical procedures were made as a preliminary stage of preparation of patients for operation or as a final method of treatment after conventional operation procedures, in 66.5% of cases it was final method of treatment. There were no deaths caused by biliary bypass procedures nor complications related to laparotomy. Thus low invasive interventions, undoubtedly, are the method of choice in mechanical jaundice for preparation of patients before radical operations as well as for relief of the course of disease in patients with inoperable cancer which causes obstruction of biliary ducts.