Purpose: We investigated the efficacy of interventional radiology procedures in some patients with iatrogenic injuries of the biliary tree from laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Material and methods: In the last two years, 8 patients with complications of laparoscopic cholecystectomy were treated in the Department of Radiology of Umberto I Hospital, Ancona, Italy. Five of them had a subhepatic biliary collection due to a cystic duct stump leak, 2 has a leak of the Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy (from a iatrogenic injury of the common biliary duct) and 1 had a right hepatic biliary duct stricture from a clip. In the patients with a cystic duct stump leak, we treated the biloma with percutaneous catheter drainage and the endoscopist positioned a nasobiliary tube, while a percutaneous abdominal catheter was positioned to drain the biloma and a percutaneous transhepatic catheter was positioned through the biliary duct tract or through the hepaticojejunostomy.
Results: All injuries were completely repaired within 5-8 weeks of the procedure. There were no maneuver-related complications. All patients had normal serum levels of bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and transaminase at the monthly follow-up tests performed for 3 months. US and MR cholangiopancreatography at 3 months excluded strictures, fistulas or bilomas of the biliary tree.
Discussion: The prompt detection of the injuries is essential to the success of interventional radiology procedures: the patients are less debilitated, small caliber catheters can be used and recovery is quicker. The combined effort of surgeons, endoscopists and radiologists is necessary to optimize the management of patients with laparoscopic cholecystectomy-related biliary complications.
Conclusions: We obtained positive results with minimally invasive procedures costing less than another operation. Thus, we suggest that interventional radiology procedures become the method of choice in patients with iatrogenic injuries of the biliary tree after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.