Behavior of the common bile duct diameter before and 12 years after choledochostomy for cholecystolithiasis and choledocholithiasis. A prospective study.
BACKGROUND
In patients with common bile duct (CBD) stones, the diameter of the CBD is usually dilated. After surgery, the behavior of CBD diameter is not clearly known.


OBJECTIVE
To determine at a late follow-up the width of CBD before and after choledochostomy for CBD stones.


METHODS
In this prospective study, 39 patients with gallstones and CBD stones were included. They were 30 women and 9 men with a mean age of 52.6 years. In all ultrasound, determination of the CBD caliber before and 12 years after surgery was performed.


RESULTS
The mean value of the inner diameter of the CBD before surgery was 11.6 and 12.3 mm in patients below or above 60 years, respectively. Measurement 12 years after surgery showed a mean decrease of nearly 50% of preoperative values, which was highly significant (p < 0.0001). However, either below or above 60 years, only 75% of the patients showed this decrease, whereas 25% remained unchanged.


CONCLUSIONS
The dilated preoperative CBD returns to normal or near normal values in 3/4 of the patients after surgical exploration of the CBD and extraction of the stones.
Department of Surgery, Clinical Hospital University of Chile, Santos Dumont # 999, Santiago, Chile. acsendes@machi.med.uchile.cl
Attila
A
Csendes
Paula
P
Csendes
Patricio
P
Burdiles
Juan Carlos
JC
Diaz
Fernando
F
Maluenda
Ana Maria
AM
Burgos
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D041761:Cholecystolithiasis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D042883:Choledocholithiasis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D002768:Choledochostomy; D003135:Common Bile Duct / Q000473:pathology*; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies