Role of fluorescence in situ hybridization in the diagnosis of malignant biliary stricture

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Biliary stricture is a fixed narrowing of a focal segment of the bile duct that result in proximal biliary dilatation and clinical features of obstructive jaundice. A wide spectrum of hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases, both benign and malignant, can result in the development of biliary strictures. Although trans abdominal ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging are sensitive for detecting bile duct pathology, they do not reliably distinguish strictures as being malignant or benign. FISH utilizes fluorescently labeled DNA probes to chromosomal centromeres or unique loci to detect cells that have numerical or structural abnormalities indicative of malignancy