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The use of non-absorbable suture material during the surgery of the choledochus can be a cause of choledocholithiasis. An interesting case of a female patient who underwent author's observation for recurrent cholangitis with partial pathological obstruction of the common bile duct after cholecystectomy (1948) and choledochotomy for choledocholithiasis (1977) is reported.

Up to now, surgery was the only possible treatment for choledochoduodenal fistulas, which are seen more often in Japan than in Europe. This paper presents the value and effect of endoscopic fistulotomy (EFT) as an alternative treatment in those cases. Parapapillary choledochoduodenal fistulas are abserved usually on the longitudinal fold of the papilla or on its oral side. The papillotome is inserted into the common bile duct through the orifice of the duodenal papilla, then the wall between its orifice and the fistula is cut to open widely the distal portion of the choledochus. EFT was performed successfully in 7 cases. The procedure led to a wide open stoma of the distal common bile duct with free bile outflow. Residual stones, a common occurrence in cases of parapapillary choledochoduodenal fistulas, may pass spontaneously after EFT or can be removed with a basket catheter. In cases of parapapillary choledochoduodenal fistula, EFT is a reliable method, especially in high-risk patients, and an alternative to surgical treatment.

Selective cannulation and aspiration of bile prior to ERCP may be helpful in bacterial contamination (suppurative cholangitis), in patients with choledocholithiasis, to determine lithogenicity of bile, and in studies where antibiotic concentration of different substances are analyzed in correlation to hepato-biliary diseases. Results of appropriate examinations are presented.

The first case of hypophosphatasia in adults reported in Italy (20th in the world) is described with remarks on the epidemiology, pathogenesis and therapeutic possibilities. The formation of renal and cholecystic calculi after long-term, intensive vitamin D and Calcium therapy indicates the limited capacity of pyrophosphate (PPi), even in large doses, to prevent the precipitation in man of calcium and phosphorus and the subsequent formation of ectopic calcifications.

Twenty-five patients were treated for retained, recurrent, or primary common duct stones by permanent drainage of the biliary tract with external choledochoduodenostomy. Twenty-one patients had common duct stones which became evident two to fifty years after the initial biliary tract procedure and which may represent stones formed in the common duct. Three recent patients had a clinical history of primary common duct stones, had stones which were soluble in chloroform-methanol solution, and had hepatic bile which was lithogenic as determined by evaluating the molar percentage of cholesterol, phospholipid, and bile salt in bile samples obtained at the time of choledochoduodenostomy. These data suggest that further stone formation is possible and that permanent bypass of the sphincter of Oddi is indicated to prevent recurrent bile duct obstruction. Long-term evaluation of the results of external choledochoduodenostomy indicates that the procedure is safe and effective in the prevention of recurrent biliary tract calculi.

Could the association of common duct stones and agenesis of the gallbladder be a coincidence or are they related to a cause and effect phenomenon? After having dealt with different physiopathological hypothesis, the authors think that common duct stones result from that congenital absence of the gallbladder. A method to ascertain their hypothesis is put forward.

This report describes a patient with common bile duct obstruction and cholangiohepatitis. Patients with clonorchiasis are usually asymptomatic and treatment is limited to complications. Treatment consists of cholecystectomy, choledochotomy, and T-tube drainage. A bypass procedure is indicated in cases of heavy infestation and recurrent disease.

The factors influencing the migration of gall stones are ill understood. Altogether 331 patients undergoing cholecystectomy were studied prospectively. The diameters of the cystic and common bile ducts and of stones in the gall bladder and bile ducts were measured. Increasing pressure was applied to the freshly excised gall bladder in an attempt to evacuate stones through the cystic duct. Stones passed in 33 (60.0%) of patients with choledocholithiasis, 45 (67.2%) of patients with pancreatitis, and 7 (3.2%) of patients without either pancreatitis or choledocholithiasis. Stones migrated in 6 (3.0%) who had a normal cystic duct diameter (less than or equal to 4 mm) and in 46 (32.5%) with a duct over 4 mm diameter. Common bile duct stones were often larger than the diameter of the cystic duct and when reintroduced into the gall bladder would not migrate. The passage of debris (less than or equal to 1 mm) through the cystic duct bore no relation to the presence or absence of choledocholithiasis or a dilated cystic duct. Small stones (1-4 mm diameter) must migrate to initiate and facilitate further migration; some must increase in size in the common bile duct. Increased biliary pressure consequently dilates the duct system retrogradely, allowing larger stones to follow. Patients at risk of stone migration and thereby pancreatitis and jaundice have large ducts that can be detected by ultrasound assessment.

Operated on were 165 elderly and 68 young patients for calculous cholecystitis complicated by choledocholithiasis and obstructive jaundice. Drainage through the cystic duct stump is the most effective method for external drainage of the common bile duct in operative interventions on the bile ducts in elderly patients, which permits to reduce considerably the incidence of postoperative complications.

One hundred sixteen cases if postcholecystectomy choledocholithiasis were assessed after different methods of surgical approach. The evidence that previous surgery, advanced age, and long history of symptoms are associated with a high incidence of bile infection and with advanced histological changes in the biliary ductal apparatus was considered as an index of biliary stasis. It is for these patients that a drainage procedure supplementary to choledochotomy was thought to be warranted. Both choledochoduodenostomy and sphincteroplasty were carried out in this series of patients as drainage procedures supplementary to choledochotomy. Choledochoduodenostomy appears to offer a definitive solution to this problem, and it has been shown to be safe and simple to carry out without mortality and with a very low morbidity.

This retrospective study reviews the complications which occurred in 257 patients who had supraduodenal exploration of the common bile duct in one hospital during a 15-year period. One hundred and eighteen patients (46 per cent) developed complications: septic and cardiorespiratory complications were most common, occurring in 19.5 per cent and 16.7 per cent of patients respectively. Postoperative retained stones were detected in 37 patients (14 per cent), causing complications in 54 per cent. Peroperative postexploratory cholangiography did not significantly reduce the incidence of this problem. None of the 12 patients who had postexploratory choledochoscopy had retained stones. Five patients (1.9 per cent) died, three of whom had duct procedures in addition to supraduodenal exploration and two of whom had retained stones. It is concluded that common bile duct exploration has a high associated morbidity, particularly due to sepsis and retained stones.

The relationship between peripapillary duodenal diverticulum and benign biliary tract disease was studied. Peripapillary duodenal diverticulum could be classified pathophysiologically into three types. Type I represents the disease not directly affecting the biliary tract. Type II shows the elevation of bile duct pressure directly caused by intraduodenal pressure loading. Type III includes patients in whom the diverticulum is small and is prone to cause papillitis or mechanical stimulation. This, then, may lead to organic changes in Oddi's sphincter and possibly to biliary tract disorders. In our patients, many cases of peripapillary duodenal diverticulum were associated with calcium bilirubinate stones, indicating that a peripapillary duodenal diverticulum is likely to lead to bile stagnation and ascending infection of the biliary tract and thus cause formation of calcium bilirubinate stones. Based on findings in this study, we want to emphasize that Type II peripapillary duodenal diverticulum should be surgically treated.

Endoscopic sphincterotomy was performed on 300 patients with biliary and/or pancreatic disease during the period 1978-1983. The most frequent indications were choledocholithiasis after cholecystectomy (59%), choledocholithiasis without cholecystectomy (17%) and presumed motility disorders of the sphincter of Oddi (15%). In choledocholithiasis, stones passed spontaneously or were extracted from the bile duct in 147 of 164 patients (90%) in whom the outcome was determined by cholangiography immediately after stone extraction or by a second retrograde cholangiogram. In presumed motility disorders, only 51% of patients have shown sustained improvement in symptoms. Complications were uncommon (5%) but included bleeding from the margins of the incision, pancreatitis, cholangitis and an entrapped Dormia basket; no patient died. Duodenal diverticula were more frequent (p less than 0.005) in patients with bile duct stones after cholecystectomy (28%) than in patients in whom retrograde cholangiography did not reveal stones (9%) but the presence of diverticula did not influence the outcome of the procedure. Endoscopic sphincterotomy is a safe and effective procedure of particular relevance to elderly patients with choledocholithiasis after cholecystectomy and to high-risk patients with choledocholithiasis without cholecystectomy.

A patient with double recurrence of common bile duct stones formed around non-absorbable suture material is reported. Clinical evidence from the literature is presented to support the recommendation that non-absorbable suture material should be avoided in the region of the biliary tract.