X-Rays of Ducts in Gallbladder Surgery Doesn’t Reduce Injury

(Ivanhoe Newswire) –An analysis of a procedure used to prevent common duct injury during gallbladder surgery has discovered that the use of intraoperative cholangiography (radiologic examination of the ducts during gallbladder surgery) was not associated with a reduced risk of common duct injury.
Common duct injuries cause significant short- and long-term morbidity including multiple hospitalizations, major operations, and biliary strictures. Intraoperative cholangiography is thought to prevent duct injury. However, there is controversy regarding the effectiveness.
Kristin M. Sheffield, PhD, and Taylor S. Riall, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, and colleagues investigated the association between intraoperative cholangiography use during cholecystectomy and common duct injury, using instrumental variable analysis, an effective way to overcome unmeasured confounding. “Based on these results, routine intraoperative cholangiography should not be advocated as means for preventing common duct injury,” researchers were quoted as saying.
For more information, go to: http://media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/x-ray-examination-of-ducts-during-gallbladder-surgery-not-associated-with-significant-reduction-in-risk-of-common-duct-injury/
SOURCE: JAMA, August 2013