A Case of Hemobilia Following Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

ABSTRACT

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has recently been accepted as a procedure of choice for treating cholelithiasis. Its complication rates were known to be comparable to classical cholecystectomy. Hemobilia is very rare after cholecystectomy but is one of the lethal complications that may occur weeks to months after the operation. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that hemobilia due to communications between cystic duct and cystic artery or right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysms, can occur in the patients who have history of laparoscopic cholecystectomy when they have upper gastro-intestinal bleeding. Selective hepatic arteriography can be an important diagnostic and therapeutic modality having high success rate (81-96%). We report a case of hemobilia caused by cystic artery pseudoaneurysm following laparoscopic cholecystectomy which was undergone 1 month before admission, and will discuss the mechanism and the treatment of the pseudoaneurysm associated with hemobilia.