Search

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the value of ordinary clinical and laboratory data, including the monitoring of ampullary gallstone obstruction in the early phases of the disease, in the diagnosis of acute gallstone pancreatitis (AGP)., Methods: One hundred and thirty-two patients were studied. The inclusion criteria were admission within 48 h from the onset of symptoms, clinical presentation compatible with AGP, bile-free gastric aspirate, elevation of serum amylase and bilirubin, and ultrasonographic demonstration of cholelithiasis. Monitoring of ampullary obstruction included severity of pain, presence of bile in the gastric aspirate, and serial serum bilirubin determinations. The clinical diagnosis of AGP was confirmed or excluded by surgical exploration, and that of ampullary obstruction by intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)., Results: The overall accuracy of the diagnostic tests for AGP was high: sensitivity, 0.94; specificity, 0.99; positive predictive value, 0.95; and negative predictive value, 0.99. Detection of spontaneous ampullary decompression was correct in 100% of the patients, and that of ampullary obstruction, in 61%. The accuracy of this test was sensitivity, 1.0; specificity, 0.92; positive predictive value, 0.61; and negative predictive value, 1.0., Conclusions: Clinical criteria and ordinary laboratory determinations are sufficiently accurate to discriminate between patients with AGP and those with other acute abdominal pathologies. Careful monitoring of patients' pain, quality of nasogastric aspirate, and serum bilirubin level can accurately identify the few cases with persistent ampullary obstruction. Those patients can then be selected for intervention to restore the ampullary patency and prevent progression of acute pancreatitis.

We report three cases of Mirizzi syndrome diagnosed by MR imaging. MR cholangiography revealed dilation of the intrahepatic bile ducts, narrowing of the common hepatic duct, the level of obstruction, and the location of gallstone in the cystic duct. MR showed thickening of the gallbladder wall and the pattern of wall enhancement. MR evaluation with MR cholangiography sequences proved to be useful in these patients with Mirizzi syndrome.

Objectives: Elevation of serum transaminase has been shown to establish gallstone etiology in acute pancreatitis, but little has been reported regarding hepatic histopathological changes in biliary pancreatitis. The main purposes of this study were to observe hepatic histopathological changes in the acute stage of biliary pancreatitis and to elucidate the mechanism of transaminase elevation., Methods: Microscopic findings for liver biopsy specimens (26 patients) as well as gross pathological observations of the biliary tract at emergency operation were analyzed in 62 patients with biliary pancreatitis., Results: The main light microscopic findings were hepatocyte necrosis (96.2%) and acute cholangitis (65.4%). The main electron microscopic findings (two patients) were disorganized liver cell plate, retention of biliary material in the dilated canaliculi, and shedding of cytoplasm into the space of Disse in some areas. At laparotomy, impacted and floating bile duct stones were found in 35 (56.5%) and 13 (21.0%) patients, respectively, and acute inflammatory biliary diseases were encountered in 43 (69.4%) patients., Conclusions: The main hepatic histopathological changes in biliary pancreatitis were acute inflammatory hepatocyte necrosis, hepatocyte degeneration, and acute cholangitis caused by ampullary stones impacted during their transpapillary passage. Serum transaminase elevation might be a reflection of hepatocyte necrosis and/or degeneration.

From April 1988 until November 1990, 83 patients with symptomatic gallbladder stones were treated in the University Hospital "Dijkzigt" Rotterdam with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) followed by oral administration of bile acids (urso- and chenodeoxycholic acid). According to our inclusion criteria, patients with up to 10 stones without any limit to the size of the stone(s) were accepted for treatment. On average, these patients underwent two sessions of ESWL with an electromagnetic lithotriptor (Lithostar and Lithostar Plus, Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany). Fragmentation of stones was achieved in 70/83 (84% patients). The best results were achieved in patients with a solitary gallstone (50% of these patients were stone-free 12 months after ESWL). Four percent of the patients with two to three stones, and 12% of the patients with four to 10 stones were free of stones 12 months after ESWL. Twenty-eight (34%) patients suffered from biliary colics after ESWL, and three patients (3.5%) developed pancreatitis. The administration of oral bile acids was complicated by transient diarrhoea in 15 (18%) patients. ESWL followed by oral bile acid therapy is a relatively effective and safe therapy for a highly select population of patients with gallbladder stones, which can be performed on an outpatient basis. Although the results for multiple stones were poor, the usage of wide inclusion criteria (up to 10 stones of any size) did not affect the success rate of ESWL for multiple stones.

The magnetic resonance imaging of gallstones was studied in 34 patients. Diagnosis of the gallstones using magnetic resonance imaging was possible in 29 patients (85%). The gallstones showed as no-signal areas in all cases, with relatively strong signals being detected from the center of the stones in six cases. Postoperative studies showed the stones with the central signals to be of the so-called mixed stone type, in which the central area consists of cholesterol with a radiating structure. The central signal was thought to originate in water that accumulates in the central cavity of the stone, the cavity not being isolated from the exterior of the stone and there being a passage of fluids. The central signal is a characteristic indication of the stone's structure.

We describe a 5-yr retrospective analysis of the accuracy of the microscopic examination of bile in the detection of biliary tract disease in patients with episodic upper abdominal pain who had negative imaging procedures. In 182 patients, 189 studies of bile were performed using duodenal intubation and sincalide stimulation for gallbladder contraction. The presence of cholesterol crystals, leukocytes (greater than or equal to 5/hpf) or the absence of "B" bile constituted a "positive" study. Bilirubinate sludge alone, was defined as "suspicious." Eighty-three patients underwent cholecystectomy. Among the acalculous patients who underwent cholecystectomy, 28/28 with bilirubinate sludge had symptomatic improvement as compared with the negative group of which only five of 10 improved (p less than 0.005). The sensitivity of this test for the presence of gallstones in these imaging-negative patients was 87%, while the specificity was 16%. We conclude that a single microscopic examination of bile cannot accurately predict the pathological findings or the presence of gallstones in image-negative patients with biliary pain. The presence of bilirubinate sludge may predict symptomatic improvement in those patients with acalculous gallbladder disease undergoing cholecystectomy.

We report a case of intramural giant gallstone. Cholangiography revealed narrowing of the neck of the gallbladder due to a hemispherical prominence. At cholecystectomy, a giant gallstone 2.1 cm in diameter which was located in the submucosa of a hemispherical prominence at the neck of the gallbladder, was found. Although the usual sizes of intramural gallstones mentioned in previous reports have ranged from 2 to 5 mm in diameter, the stone found in our case is, as far as we know, the largest intramural gallstone yet reported.