Balloon dilation of intrahepatic biliary strictures for percutaneous extraction of residual intrahepatic stones

Intrahepatic ductal strictures in cholangiohepatitis present an obstacle to successful removal of retained ductal stones via T-tube tracts. We studied the effectiveness of stricture dilatation for stone removal. Fifteen patients with intrahepatic gallstones retained behind strictures underwent balloon dilatation of their strictures to allow stone extraction. All had prior surgical T-tube placement allowing percutaneous access. Balloon dilatation was successful in reducing or eliminating strictures in 86.7% (13 of 15 patients), and complete stone extraction after the successful dilatation was possible in 76.9% (10 of 13 patients). The reasons for failure were impacted stones and acute ductal angulation which prevented passage of catheters. It is concluded that balloon dilatation of intrahepatic biliary strictures is an effective adjunct for extraction of intrahepatic biliary calculi associated with recurrent pyogenic cholangiohepatitis.     

Bilary tract exploration via T-tube tract: improved technique.

A total of 40 cases referred for postoperative reexploration of the biliary tract via the T-tube trace was reviewed. In selected cases, a modified technique of dilatation of the T-tube tract or bile ducts and endoscopy via the T-tube tract was used. Dilatation of the T-tube tract is a relatively simple procedure that was necessary in over one-half of our cases, since the retained stone was larger than the T-tube inserted during surgery. A new T-tube with a larger external limb was developed in order to reduce the necessity for dilatation of the biliary-cutaneous fistulous tract. Fiberoptic endoscopy of the biliary system via the T-tube tract offers another means for removing large or impacted stones and for investigating mucosal defects. This modified technique has reduced the number of patients requiring surgical reexploration.     

Percutaneous removal of retained intrahepatic stones utilizing combination of techniques with emphasis on a preshaped angulated catheter: review of 170 patients

Intrahepatic stones are frequently associated with recurrent cholangiohepatitis and complete surgical removal of the stones is almost always difficult because of the large number of stones and the associated bile duct strictures. One hundred and seventy patients with retained intrahepatic stones underwent percutaneous stone removal utilizing pre-shaped angulated catheters, 9-F polyethylene tubes with different angles of distal tip, and Dormia baskets under fluoroscopy with a combination of techniques including irrigation-suction, crushing of large stones, balloon dilatation of strictures and extracorporenal shock wave lithotripsy. The procedure was performed through a mature T-tube tract (168 patients) and a mature transhepatic tube tract (two patients). Stones were exclusively intrahepatic in 125 patients, whereas 45 patients also had stones in the common bile duct.In 84 (49.4%) of 170 patients, the stones were completely removed and in 36 (21.2%) patients, most of the stones were removed. Overall success rate was 70.6%. Angulation deformity, stricture of bile ducts and impacted stones were the factor mosto ften responsible for failure. No significant complications were observed.Fluoroscopically-guided percutaneous interventional procedures with a pre-shaped angulated catheter is a useful complementary procedure to surgery for patients with intrahepatic stones. The major benefits of an individually fitted angulated catheter are its safety and easy access to small peripheral bile ducts.     

Percutaneous removal of small ureteral calculi

Percutaneous renal and ureteral stone removal procedures are widely practiced. A new technique is described for removal of small symptomatic ureteral calculi using small (less than or equal to 14 French) tearable sheaths and standard stone retrieval baskets placed through acute percutaneous nephrostomy tracks. This fluoroscopically-guided technique was successful in 60 of 64 patients, who ranged from 16 to 88 years old. Subsequent endoscopic percutaneous calculus removal was successful in the four failures. The use of these small sheaths over previously described large tracks has produced no major complications, short hospital stays, and minimal patient disability.     

Therapy for renal calculi via percutaneous nephrostomy: Dissolution and extraction

Nephrostomy catheters offer nonsurgical modes of therapy for some renal stones. Continuous lavage of the stones using hemiacidrin (Renacidin®) for struvite stones, THAM-E or acetylcysteine for cystine stones, and bicarbonate solution for uric acid stones may dissolve either entire stones or stone fragments remaining after surgery. Although irrigation is not without potential complications, recent developments in technique have minimized these. Nephrostomy tubes can also be used to transmit stone baskets through steerable catheters to snare stones from the upper collecting system or from the ureter; any stone that can be engaged and withdrawn through the tube tract can be removed; stones larger than those which can be safely extracted through the ureterovesical junction can be so treated. Neither of these procedures requires general anesthesia, the rate of serious morbidity is low, and the required hospital stay is often less than that for surgery; these modes of therapy are therefore valuable for certain patients.     

Technical report: Management of tract disruption due to radiologic T-tube extraction of a retained common bile duct stone

When a T-tube is in situ after cholecystectomy and common bile duct exploration, the treatment of choice for retained common duct stones is removal through the T-tube tract. Tract disruption during stone removal is uncommon. It may be a significant complication resulting in biliary peritonitis. We report a case of tract disruption during removal of a stone through a T-tube tract and discuss its management.     

Percutaneous removal of retained intrahepatic stones with a pre-shaped angulated catheter: review of 96 patients.

Intrahepatic biliary stone disease is prevalent in East Asia and there is a high frequency of retained intrahepatic stones after surgical treatment. Percutaneous removal of retained intrahepatic stones with a pre-shaped angulated catheter and a Dormier basket was attempted in a group of 96 patients who had a T-tube. Seventy-six had multiple intrahepatic stones, confined to one hepatic lobe in 52 patients. Stones were exclusively intrahepatic in 68 cases. Biliary strictures were present in 92 cases (95.8%). A combination of techniques was used including pre-shaped angulated catheters, irrigation suction, balloon dilatation of strictures, crushing of large stones and extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy. Retained stones were completely removed in 48 cases, and incompletely removed in 22 cases. The overall success rate was 72.9%. There were only minor complications. No mortality or significant morbidity requiring hospitalization occurred. Angular deformity, stricture of bile ducts and impacted stones were the most frequent factors responsible for failure or incomplete removal of retained stones. Fluoroscopically guided percutaneous interventional procedures with a pre-shaped angulated catheter are useful complementary procedures to surgery for patients with intrahepatic stones. The major benefits of an individually angulated catheter are safety and easy access to small peripheral bile ducts.     

Percutaneous diagnosis and therapy of the bile ducts and gallbladder. Feasibility and status

Percutaneous transhepatic access to the bile duct has opened up new possibilities not only for diagnosis by means of cholangiography and cholangioscopy with endoscopically guided biopsy by small-bore equipment, but also for the treatment of benign and malignant obstructive jaundice. In malignant disease recanalization of the obstruction is possible by means of laser, intracavitary irritation, internal bile drainage in Klatskin tumors, large-diameter endoprostheses (e.g., a Y-shaped prosthesis) or metal stents. In benign disease, balloon dilatation of inflammatory stenoses, stone extractions from the bile duct or gallbladder by means of Dormia baskets, ultrasound or piezoelectric shockwave-contact lithotripsy and chemical litholysis are possible. Very often percutaneous access is a real alternative to surgical intervention.     

T管造影在肝内胆管结石Ⅱ期手术中的应用

目的:探讨肝内胆管结石经胆总管切开取石术后T管造影在Ⅱ期手术中的应用.方法:对96例手术后T管引流患者,经T管注入30%泛影葡胺,动态、多角度观察肝内胆管的影像特征并摄取点片.结果:96例患者中39例未见异常,拔除管后治愈.余57例有不同程度的肝内胆管狭窄与扩张,残余结石17例,肝内胆管不显影5例,变异15例,胰管显影16例.全部结果均经US、CT、胆道镜及手术证实.结论:肝内胆管结石术后行T管造影简单易行,能清晰显示结石有否残留以及在肝胆管的分布、肝胆管的狭窄与扩张以及胆管的变异等,从而为外科Ⅱ期手术的制订提供重要依据.     

Treatment of postoperative residual hepatolithiasis after progressive sleeting of associated bile duct strictures through the T-tube tract

Purpose: The authors report their experience with the treatment of intrahepatic bile duct strictures associated with hepatolithiasis. Methods: Eighty patients had multiple postoperative retained intrahepatic duct stones trapped behind intrahepatic biliary strictures. Before stone extraction, the strictures were opened gradually by semirigid dilators, followed by stent placement to create enough patency for stone removal. All procedures were carried out through the T-tube tracts and were aided by cholangioscopy and electrohydraulic lithotripsy. Results: Complete clearance of stones was achieved in 69 patients. Failure to dilate the strictures was due to acute and multiple ductal angulations. These included the right posterior inferior intrahepatic duct at its junction with the left intrahepatic ducts when it was more than 2 cm distal to the hepatic bifurcation, when the angle between the T-tube tract and the common bile duct was smaller than 90°, and when stones were located in peripheral intrahepatic ducts with more than five angulations. Conclusion: This technique is considered safe and effective for complicated hepatolithiasis with intrahepatic biliary strictures     

Biliary complications following orthotopic liver transplantation

The gall-bladder conduit anastomosis (choledocho-cholecysto-choledochostomy) has been the most frequently used technique for the biliary tract anastomosis in the Cambridge/King's College Hospital joint liver transplantation programme since 1976. Cholangiograms and interventional biliary procedures performed over a 3 year period were reviewed retrospectively. Seventy-six of 148 patients managed post-operatively at King's College Hospital were studied (79 transplants). Cholangiograms were abnormal in 63 (80%) transplants with biliary strictures; inspissated bile formation, bile leak and T-tube malposition occurring in 50, 23, 14 and three transplants respectively. Anastomotic strictures occurred most frequently, predominantly at the proximal anastomosis, and the presence of inspissated bile and the T-tube in relation to these contributed towards subsequent biliary obstruction. Non-anastomotic strictures in the donor biliary tract were associated with a high position of the T-tube tip at or above the liver hilum. Saline irrigation of the bile ducts for inspissated bile or its removal via the endoscope were effective measures in the management of biliary obstruction but percutaneous balloon dilatation and endoscopic stent insertion for biliary strictures were found to have a limited role.     

T-tube tract dilatation for removal of large biliary stones.

A technique used for removal of residual biliary tract stones, too large to be withdrawn through a T-tube tract, is reported. Telescoping Teflon catheters were used in one patient to dilate the tract sufficiently to remove the stone with the Dormia type wire basket.     

Ultrasonic cholangiography. Gray-scale B-scan evaluation of the common bile duct.

Gray-scale B-scanning permits evaluation of major portions of the bile ducts, especially those with significant dilatation. Injection of contrast material containing microscopic air bubbles through a T-tube with simultaneous ultrasonography detected multiple echoes filling in the previously echo-free area which represented the common bile duct, outlining both the duct and portions of the major tributaries. Reflections could be obtained from stones within the duct. Follow-up examinations after surgery could be used to demonstrate shrinkage of the duct. Jaundice due to extra- or intrahepatic obstruction was successfully differentiated noninvasively.     

Garland lecture. Percutaneous extraction of retained biliary tract stones: 661 patients

Personal experience in nonoperative biliary stone removal through the T-tube sinus tract in 661 patients between 1972 and 1979 is reviewed. The failure rate was 5%; causes for unsuccessful stone extraction are discussed. Special maneuvers are described for extraction of small stones, fragmentation of large stones, impacted stones, intrahepatic stones, and stones in the cystic duct remnant. The overall success rate of nonoperative extraction was 95%. This radiologic technique is the method of choice for removal of postoperative retained stones.     

NForce取石网篮联合钬激光治疗输尿管结石71例

目的 评价NForce取石网篮联合输尿管镜钬激光碎石在输尿管镜碎石中的应用效果.方法 回顾分析2018-06至2020-07医院收治的输尿管镜碎石术联合NForce取石网篮治疗的71例患者的临床资料,平均(45.80±11.99)岁,结石径线(13.05±4.30)mm,最大结石径线27.97 mm,结石表面积(66....     

MR cholangiography of late biliary complications after liver transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to assess the role of MR cholangiography in the diagnosis of late biliary complications after liver transplantation. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-three liver transplantation patients (18 men and five women; mean age, 46 years) underwent MR cholangiography using a nonbreath-hold, fat-suppressed three-dimensional turbo spin-echo sequence (TR/TE, 3000/700; echo train length, 128) optimized on a 0.5-T magnet. Inclusion criteria were liver function tests with abnormal results and hyperbilirubinemia with a clinical pattern not specific for biliary obstruction. All patients were referred by clinicians for contrast-enhanced cholangiography. Diagnostic confirmation was obtained with percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (n = 4), endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (n = 8), T-tube cholangiography (n = 1), or clinical follow-up (n = 10). RESULTS: In 11 patients, no abnormalities of the biliary tract were revealed by MR cholangiography. In 11 patients, twelve strictures were diagnosed (nine anastomotic, two nonanastomotic-intrahepatic, and one nonanastomotic-extrahepatic, with association between anastomotic and nonanastomotic strictures in two cases). In one other patient, kinking of the common bile duct at the level of the anastomosis was observed. In all cases, MR cholangiography correctly showed the site of the stricture and the dilatation of bile ducts above, with excellent correlation with contrast-enhanced cholangiographic findings. Strictures were correctly graded in eight of 10 patients and were overestimated in two. Other findings included a 1-cm stone detected proximal to the obstructed common bile duct in one patient and multiple intrahepatic stones in another patient. CONCLUSION: MR cholangiography can show biliary obstruction and provide important information for planning therapeutic procedures.     

Early removal of retained biliary stone without T-tube removal: Case report

Techniques for removal of retained common bile duct stones through mature tracts are safe and well established. When symptomatic, the stones may require removal prior to the 4–6-week period required for tract maturation. We report a case in which substituting a Teflon sheath for the standard polyethylene basket sheath allowed manipulation through the T-tube lumen and basketing of an impacted distal common bile duct stone, which had caused pancreatitis. This technique is simple and avoids the problem of loss of access to the biliary tree in the early postoperative period.     

Biliary ascariasis: percutaneous transhepatic management

In a 60-year-old woman who underwent cholecystectomy and T-tube drainage for biliary ascariasis, postoperative bilirubin levels continued to increase. T-tube cholangiography revealed multiple filling defects in the bile ducts, which suggested roundworm reinfestation. Because the patient could not tolerate endoscopy, a percutaneous transhepatic approach with balloon dilatation of the ampulla of Vater and subsequent advancement of roundworms into the duodenum with an embolectomy balloon was used. The procedure was successful, with no major complications. The use of a percutaneous transhepatic treatment to advancement of roundworms into the duodenum is a feasible alternative to surgery when endoscopic extraction fails.     

Stones and infection in renal caliceal diverticula: treatment with percutaneous procedures

Percutaneous treatment of symptomatic caliceal diverticula has expanded the application of uroradiologic intervention. To assess the safety and efficacy of these procedures, we have reviewed our experience with percutaneous management of 12 symptomatic caliceal diverticula, 10 with stones and two infected. Nine stone-bearing diverticula were punctured directly with subsequent tract dilatation, nephroscopic stone extraction, and cavity obliteration (six with fulguration and drainage and three with drainage alone). One case was approached indirectly by puncturing a distant calix, dilating the diverticular neck, and flushing the stones into the collecting system for extraction. This cavity was not treated. Two infected diverticula were punctured directly for drainage and obliteration (one by fulguration and one by tetracycline sclerosis). Complete stone extractions were accomplished in all 10 cases. In eight with clinical follow-up ranging from 4 months to 6 years, one stone has recurred and seven patients are asymptomatic. Follow-up urograms were available in eight of 10 patients in whom cavity obliteration was attempted; in six (75%) of eight, nonvisualization of the diverticulum indicated successful obliteration. Only one major complication (urinoma requiring drainage) occurred. We conclude that percutaneous procedures are safe and effective in treating infected or stone-bearing caliceal diverticula. Direct diverticular puncture for access and diverticular fulguration for cavity obliteration is our preferred technique.     

Optimal cholangiographic technique for detecting bile duct stones

Twenty-eight patients with proven bile duct stones were evaluated during either operative or T-tube cholangiography. Two radiographs were obtained for each patient without changing patient position between films. The first was performed with low peak kilovoltage (75-80 kVp) and 15% iodinated contrast medium and the second with high kVp (110) and 38% iodinated contrast. Seven radiologists evaluated the radiographs individually and in matched pairs for ductal filling, ductal penetration, motion unsharpness, overall quality, and stone detectability. The high-kVp radiographs were rated significantly better overall than the low-kVp studies (p less than 0.001) for all five criteria. In the second evaluation, which compared the pairs from the same patients, the 28 high-kVp radiographs were considered superior to the 28 low-kVp studies by the radiologists in almost two-thirds of the comparisons (ductal filling, 68%; penetration, 59%; less motion unsharpness, 65%; overall quality, 77%; stone detection, 62%). On the basis of the results of this study, high-kVp technique with full-strength contrast medium for operative and T-tube cholangiography is recommended.