Hepatic duct strictures: presentation and management

ABSTRACT

A prospective study was conducted in Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi from January 1998 to December 2000[about 3 years]. A total of 11 patients with radiologically proven strictures of hepatic ducts were included in the study. All the cases were thoroughly investigated by history, physical examination, liver function tests [LFT's], Ultrasound abdomen, Percutaneous Transhepatic Cholangiography[PTC], Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography[ERCP] and Computerised Tomography [CT]scan. Out of 11 cases, 8 [72.72%]were male and 3 [27.27%]female with male to female ratio of 2.71. The age ranged from 33 years to 66 years with a mean age of 48 years. There were 8[72.72%] cases of benign stricture and 3[27.27%] with malignant pathology. Of the benign strictures, 4 were Type-I, 3 type -11 and 1 Type-III[Bismuth classification] while among malignant strictures 2 were Type-II and 1 Type-I [Klatskin's classification]. The jaundice was the main presenting symptom except in 1 case. Seven patients had abdominal pain, 5 had fever, 2 presented with weight loss and pruritis and mass was palpable in only one case Surgical bypass[hepatico-jejunostomy] was done in 9 cases, 1 with malignant pathology and 8 with benign strictures including redo surgery in two of the later group. Two patients found unfit to undergo surgery or because of advanced malignancy, were subjected to Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage[PTBD]. Patients follow- up post-operativly varied from 3 months to 2 years. Outcome of surgical bypass compared favorably with the other studies on this subject