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Cholangiogram showing a leak originating at the duct of Luschka that drains to the right hepatic duct.
Source publication
Bile leaks remain a significant cause of morbidity for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Leakage from an injured duct of Luschka (subvesical duct) follows the cystic duct as the most common cause of postcholecystectomy bile leaks. Although endoscopic sphincterotomy, plastic-stent placement, or nasobiliary-drain placement are effecti...
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We remind you of some technical artifices required in order to resolve difficult cases, such as: antegrade laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC), subtotal laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SLC) and the “stairs” clipping of the cystic duct. Also we acknowledge the closing of the cystic duct. We analyzed the medical records of 15251 laparoscopic cholecystect...
When surgeons face difficulties in dissecting the Calot triangle during cholecystectomy due to severe inflammation or fibrosis, the proximal portion of the gallbladder is left in place to avoid injury to the bile duct; this procedure is called partial cholecystectomy (PC), and it is associated with a much higher complication rate after the operatio...
Citations
... The prevalence of such anatomical variations is certainly very low but not available because of the lack of information in literature [8]. Bile leaks are reported in 0.2-2% of all patients treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomies [9]. Frequency of leakage of the ducts of Luschka represents 4.4% of all iatrogenic biliary duct injuries and 15% of type A injuries (according to the "Strasberg classification system" [10]). ...
... Bile loss from subvesical bile duct injury is commonly diagnosed within the first postoperative week [5]. Patient may complain of specific symptoms such as abdominal pain or signs such as tenderness and fever [9]. Increase of ALP and bilirubin may also occur. ...
Background:
Bile leakage still remains a serious complication during cholecystectomies. In limited cases, this complication may occur from injury of the so-called ducts of Luschka. These rare ducts are usually discovered intraoperatively, and their presence poses the risk of bile injury and clinically significant bile leak.
Presentation case:
We present a unique case of a 59-year-old male patient with acute cholecystitis. After removal of the gallbladder, thorough inspection of the hepatic bed was made and a little bile leak was identified from a duct of Luschka 1 cm away from the gallbladder hilum. We report on the use of endoscopic QuickClip Pro® clips (Olympus Medical Systems Corp., Tokyo, Japan) to avoid further more invasive treatment.
Discussion:
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with sphincterotomy played a crucial role for diagnosis and treatment of bile leaks with success rate near 94%. Many authors have argued the role of relaparoscopy, Diagnosis may be intraoperatively but this option does not seem to occur very often; in fact, there is a lack of data in literature.
Conclusion:
This is the first case report of bile leak from duct of Luschka treated during the cholecystectomies with endoscopic clip.
... double-pigtail stent that was placed in the right hepatic duct. 6 The patient was treated with a fully-covered metal stent in the right hepatic duct for 6 weeks. An injury to the ducts of Lushika during laparoscopic cholecysectomy involves thin peripheral ducts around the gallbladder fossa, usually resulting in a small leak. ...
A 51-year-old man underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallbladder stones. He had developed fever, chills, and abdominal pain four days after the procedure. In the drain tube, bile was persistently observed. An endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) showed a leakage from the small duct into the right intrahepatic duct. We determined that the bile leak was caused by an injury to the ducts of Luschka. An endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) using a 5-F nasobiliary tube (NBT) was performed, and the leak was resolved in five days. Herein, we report a bile leak caused by an injury to the ducts of Luschka after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The leak was treated with ES using 5-F NBT, and the resolution of the leak was confirmed without repeated endoscopy.
... More specifically, injury of a subvesical bile duct is quietly inevitable (1) and it is one of the most common etiologies of bile leakage in cholecystectomies. (3,(12)(13) In fact, approximately 27% of clinically significant bile leaks are occurred by injury to a subvesical bile duct. (1) In particular, bile injury represents the most crucial and lifethreatening postoperative complication of cholecystectomies (14) and bile leak remains a potential cause of morbidity (0.2-2%) for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, (6) which can even lead to biliary peritonitis to the patient. ...
... (6) Bile leaks due to subvesical bile duct injury are usually detected during the first postoperative week, presenting with symptoms such as abdominal pain and signs such as tenderness and fever. (13) Mild augmentation of ALP and bilirubin may also be detected. Moreover, biliary peritonitis with subsequent sepsis may occur. ...
Introduction:
Aberrant subvesical bile ducts are a scarce anatomical variation, consisted by a network of bile ducts located in the peri-hepatic capsule of the gallbladder fossa. These rare ducts are usually discovered intraoperatively and their presence poses the risk of bile injury and clinically significant bile leak.
Presentation of case:
Aberrant subvesical bile ducts were unexpectedly identified in a young woman during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. These three ducts were clipped carefully for avoidance of bile duct injury and subsequent bile leak. The operation was uneventful. A meticulous review of the recent literature was conducted as well.
Discussion:
This unusual anatomical variation of the biliary tract is mainly discovered during the operation. Thus, surgical injury of these ducts is nearly inevitable and it provokes the severe complication of bile leak. Bile injury represents the most crucial and life-threatening postoperative complication of cholecystectomies. Surgeons in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen should be constantly aware of this rare anatomical variation.
Conclusion:
Aberrant subvesical bile ducts are associated with a high risk of surgical bile duct injury. Nevertheless, meticulous operative technique combined with surgeons' perpetual awareness concerning this peculiar anatomical aberration leads to a safe laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
... Regarding duodenal reflux issue, some studies using SEMS with antireflux valve have been conducted. However, only cases of malignant biliary obstruction were included [92][93][94] . Besides stent migration, acute cholangitis, cholecystitis and pancreatitis have also been reported with FCSEMS placement [65,70,87,88] . ...
Benign biliary strictures comprise a heterogeneous group of diseases. The most common strictures amenable to endoscopic treatment are post-cholecystectomy, post-liver transplantation, related to primary sclerosing cholangitis and to chronic pancreatitis. Endoscopic treatment of benign biliary strictures is widely used as first line therapy, since it is effective, safe, noninvasive and repeatable. Endoscopic techniques currently used are dilation, multiple plastic stents insertion and fully covered self-expandable metal stents. The main indication for dilation alone is primary sclerosing cholangitis related strictures. In the vast majority of the remaining cases, temporary placement of multiple plastic stents with/ without dilation is considered the treatment of choice. Although this approach is effective, it requires multiple endoscopic sessions due to the short duration of stent patency. Fully covered self-expandable metal stents appear as a good alternative to plastic stents, since they have an increased radial diameter, longer stent patency, easier insertion technique and similar efficacy. Recent advances in endoscopic technique and various devices have allowed successful treatment in most cases. The development of novel endoscopic techniques and devices is still ongoing.
... Regarding duodenal reflux issue, some studies using SEMS with antireflux valve have been conducted. However, only cases of malignant biliary obstruction were included [92][93][94] . Besides stent migration, acute cholangitis, cholecystitis and pancreatitis have also been reported with FCSEMS placement [65,70,87,88] . ...
Benign biliary strictures comprise a heterogeneous group of diseases. The most common strictures amenable to endoscopic treatment are post-cholecystectomy, post-liver transplantation, related to primary sclerosing cholangitis and to chronic pancreatitis. Endoscopic treatment of benign biliary strictures is widely used as first line therapy, since it is effective, safe, noninvasive and repeatable. Endoscopic techniques currently used are dilation, multiple plastic stents insertion and fully covered self-expandable metal stents. The main indication for dilation alone is primary sclerosing cholangitis related strictures. In the vast majority of the remaining cases, temporary placement of multiple plastic stents with/without dilation is considered the treatment of choice. Although this approach is effective, it requires multiple endoscopic sessions due to the short duration of stent patency. Fully covered self-expandable metal stents appear as a good alternative to plastic stents, since they have an increased radial diameter, longer stent patency, easier insertion technique and similar efficacy. Recent advances in endoscopic technique and various devices have allowed successful treatment in most cases. The development of novel endoscopic techniques and devices is still ongoing.
... 21 For the same purpose, studies on SEMS with antireflux valve have been conducted (Figs. 3, 4). [22][23][24] Results of such studies were not always positive, however, because the attached anti-reflux valve often caused malfunction depending on its design. Antireflux valve designed to minimize the risk of malfunction led to decreased resistance for antireflux function, while that designed for greater resistance interfered with bile drainage, working against the original purpose of stent insertion. ...
Biliary stents are widely used not only for palliative treatment of malignant biliary obstruction but also for benign biliary diseases. Each plastic stent or self-expandable metal stent (SEMS) has its own advantages, and a proper stent should be selected carefully for individual condition. To compensate and overcome several drawbacks of SEMS, functional self-expandable metal stent (FSEMS) has been developed with much progress so far. This article looks into the outcomes and defects of each stent type for benign biliary stricture and describes newly introduced FSEMSs according to their functional categories.
... Complete resolution was observed in all with complications included a stricture below the confluence in two patients. Hwang et al. (29) also reported a successful treatment in patients who had refractory bile leaks with a newly designed retrievable PTFE-FCSEMS with a ball type wire mesh at the distal end. The data on usefulness of FCSEMS in treatment of biliary leaks is currently limited. ...
... Recently, a retrievable polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-FCSEMS with a ball type wire mesh at the distal end (Bumpy stent, diameter 10 mm; Taewoong Medical), was designed for anti-migration and anti-reflux (29). The design to improve the ease of stent removal has also been developed by adding proximal retrievable loop allowing the stent to be pulled inside-out more easily during removal. ...
Endoscopic therapy by balloon dilation and placement of multiple large-bore plastic stents is the treatment of choice for benign biliary stricture. This approach is effective but it typically requires multiple endoscopic sessions given the short duration of stent patency. The endoscopic approach for treatment of bile leak involves the placement of a stent with or without biliary sphincterotomy. The self-expandable metal stent (SEMS) has traditionally been used for palliation of malignant biliary strictures given the long duration of stent patency owing to their larger stent diameter. Recently, SEMS has been used in a variety of benign biliary strictures and leaks, especially with the design of the covered self-expandable metal stent (CSEMS), which permits endoscopic-mediated stent removal. The use of CSEMS in benign biliary stricture could potentially result in a decrease in endoscopic sessions and it is technically easier when compared to placement of multiple plastic stents. However, complications such as cholecystitis due to blockage of cystic duct, stent migration, infection and pancreatitis have been reported. The potential subsegmental occlusion of contralateral intrahepatic ducts also limits the use of CSEMS in hilar stricture. Certain techniques and improvement of stent design may overcome these challenges in the future. Thus, CSEMS may be appropriate in only highly selected conditions, such as refractory benign biliary stricture, despite multiple plastic stent placement or difficult to treat bile duct stricture from chronic pancreatitis, and should not be used routinely. This review focuses on the use of fully covered self-expandable metal stent for benign biliary strictures and bile leaks.
Injury to the Luschka ducts (LDs), also named “subvesicular” ducts, is an under-reported cause of biliary leak following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). A systematic literature search according to PRISMA guidelines was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library including all publications that described a bile leak from an LD. A total of 136 articles were retrieved from the searched databases. After the removal of duplicates and non-eligible papers, 48 studies reporting 231 leaks were included: 20 (41.6%) case reports, 2 (4.3%) comparative studies, 7 (14.9%) meeting abstracts and 19 (40.4%) retrospective cohort articles. The rate of LD leak ranges from 0.05% to 1.9%, but injury to a duct of Luschka was the second most common cause of biliary leakage in all the cohort studies (5.5% to 41%). In 21 (43.7%) cases, the leak was successfully treated with a sphincterotomy through Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) plus or minus stenting, and in 12 (25%), re-laparoscopy was necessary.
Background and aims: In the treatment of post-cholecystectomy bile leaks, endoscopic naso-biliary drainage (ENBD) or biliary stenting using plastic stents is the standard of care. Fully covered self-expandable metal stent (FCSEMS) placement across the sphincter of Oddi is considered a salvage therapy for refractory cases, but pancreatitis and migration are the major concerns. Intraductal placement of a dumbbell-shaped FCSEMS (D-SEMS) could avoid these drawbacks of FCMSESs. In this retrospective study, we investigated the usefulness of intraductal placement of the D-SEMS for post-cholecystectomy bile leaks. Methods: Six patients who underwent intraductal placement of the D-SEMS for post-cholecystectomy bile leaks were enrolled. This method was performed as initial treatment in three patients and as salvage treatment in three ENBD refractory cases. Results: Technical and clinical successes were obtained in 6 (100%) patients and 5 (83%) patients, respectively. One clinically unsuccessful patient required laparoscopic peritoneal lavage. The early adverse event was one case of mild pancreatitis (17%). The median duration of the D-SEMS indwelling was 61 days (42–606 days) with no migration cases, all of which were successfully removed. The median follow-up after index ERCP was 761 (range: 161–1392) days with no cases of recurrent bile leaks. Conclusions: Intraductal placement of the D-SEMS for post-cholecystectomy bile leaks might be safe and effective even in refractory cases.
Introduction
Aberrant subvesical bile ducts are rare structural anomaly located in the peri-hepatic gallbladder fossa. This duct poses the risk for intraoperative bile duct injury resulting in clinically relevant bile leakage.
Presentation of case
Aberrant subvesical bile duct was detected by preoperative magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography in a 52-year old woman with gallbladder polypoid tumor harboring the risk to be gallbladder cancer. During open cholecystectomy with full thickness dissection, the aberrant duct was identified by intraoperative fluorescent cholangiography (IFC), and dissected safely.
Discussion
Aberrant subvesical bile ducts are mostly found unexpectedly as intra and/or postoperative bile leakage, and remain an important cause of bile duct injuries after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. IFC, which offers real-time imaging of biliary anatomy, has a potential to overcome these problems.
Conclusion
We performed cholecystectomy by using IFC to identify the aberrant subvesical bile duct. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing the fluorescence image of an aberrant subvesical bile duct in a state of nature.
