Based on one case history, it is reviewed here that prolonged cases of obstructive jaundice can take on deceiving appearences, and all the more so when they fall within the framework of a "biological gap". Extensive distension of the extra and intrahepatic bile ducts are at the basis of images with multiple, radiating hilar gaps on scintigraphy, and of "chicken nests" and "Swiss cheese" at hepatographic times in selective hepatic arteriography. These rather uncommon images should lead to a diagnosis of a surgical cholestatic liver.