ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare curative effects of various surgical procedures of bile duct stones.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two thousand nine hundred and fifty-five patients with intrahepatic bile duct lithiasis who had undergone various surgical procedures were analysed with Meta-analysis. Some of these cases were reported in Chinese Medical Journals from January 1990 to March 2001 and others were from Tongji Hospital.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was a significant difference between curative effects of non-hepatectomy and that of hepatectomy (chi(2) = 62.945, P < 0.01), and the outcomes of hepatectomy were much better than those of non-hepatectomy with OR(S) equalled to 0.303 (0.222 - 0.413). There was not a significant difference between curative effect of interposed jejunum and that of hepatectomy (95% CI of RR from 0.98 to 1.04). All the other operation, effects were worse than hepatectomy (upper limit of 95% CI of RR < 1).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Hepatectomy is the most ideal surgery for intrahepatic bile duct stones and operation methods should be diversified since good effect could also be obtained when other operations are performed on suitable cases.</p>