title: Bile flow through drainage catheters: an in vitro study.
abstract: An in vitro model was developed to measure bile flow at varied pressures through several commonly used transhepatic drainage catheters. As expected, larger catheters conduct more bile flow at a given pressure. All catheters studied conduct adequate amounts of bile at normal physiologic pressure gradients. The clinical observation that large catheters (10-12 French) are necessary for adequate antegrade drainage in some patients must be explained by an abnormal bile viscosity, increased duodenal pressures, or reduced biliary secretory pressure.
mesh_terms: D001646:Bile / Q000502:physiology*; D002404:Catheterization; D004322:Drainage / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008961:Models, Structural; D011312:Pressure; D012212:Rheology