Ultrasonography of the Biliary Tract

Apart from its role in surgery, in current medical practice sonography enables us to carry out a very satisfactory exploration of the biliary tract. Furthermore, in biliary pathology, it is emerging as a good examination among other methods, assuming first place in investigative imaging. On the basis of this, one is tempted to think that intraoperative sonography should play the same primary role. Experience proves this to be very difficult. During biliary intervention, it is easy to perform cholangiography, which does not take much longer than sonography. Classical radiomanometry is still sometimes used. Otherwise, if necessary, the surgeon can complete the exploration of the common bile duct by choledochoscopy. For a long time, surgeons have been well acquainted with these three techniques, which on the whole are satisfying. Thus, in intraoperative biliary tract exploration, sonography appears to be a new method providing only the same information as the existing widely disseminated methods. We shall see that this assumption should be qualified.