Percutaneous Transhepatic Cholangiography and Cinecholangiography

PERCUTANEOUS transhepatic cholangiography is well established as a valuable adjunct in the differential diagnosis of the jaundiced patient. It is also valuable in determining partially obstructive factors in the nonjaundiced patient with poor liver function. To the surgeon, the preoperative recognition of the location, nature, and extent of biliary tract abnormalities is invaluable in planning the operative procedure more precisely. Cinecholangiography added to percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography increases the information obtained from the procedure. Cinefluorography provides continuous observation during gradual filling of the biliary system, with any pathologic derangements dynamically demonstrated. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography was first described in 1921 by Burkhardt and Muller 1 in Germany, and again in 1937 by Huard and Do-Xuan-Hop in France. 2 The first reported experience with percutaneous cholangiography in the United States was that of Carter and Saypol 3 in 1952. Since then many reports have attested to the value of this technique. The addition