Surgical procedures for choledochal cysts.

The case of a 27-year-old man who became symptomatic for a choledochal cyst at the age of 6 months is presented. Treatment of this patient mirrored the major surgical procedures recommended in the literature over the patient's lifetime. The surgical procedure that seems to be curative is excision of the cyst with Roux-Y hepaticojejunostomy. This procedure eliminates the major complications of this disease, which are biliary obstruction, ascending cholangitis, biliary cirrhosis, malignant degeneration, and, occasionally--as in this patient--erosive ulceration with bleeding.