title: Operative cholangiography: a perspective.
abstract: Two hundred and eighty-seven patients having operative cholangiograms were identified from a prospective study of 346 patients undergoing surgery for gallstones. Forty-two patients (14.6%) had filling defects and bile duct (BD) exploration. The false-positive exploration rate was 2.8%. Eight patients (2.8%) had unexpected BD calculi with no abnormality in pre-operative liver function tests or ultrasound. If a policy of selective operative cholangiography is pursued, then failure to detect a small number of duct stones must be expected, although unnecessary duct exploration is likely to be eliminated. The clinical significance of undetected BD calculi remains debatable.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surgery, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Askew
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Battersby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002758:Cholangiography / Q000592:standards*; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000592:standards*; D008111:Liver Function Tests / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000592:standards