Congenital dilatation and stricture of the bile duct as a cause of primary intrahepatic calculi

Further studies on image techniques and hepatobiliary scintigraphy for diagnosis of biliary diseases revealed details of the whole biliary ductal system and appeared some kinds of biliary malformation, which are clinically important and had been unknown yet, such as anomalous arrangement of the pancreatico-biliary ductal system, congenital biliary strictures and congenital dilatation of the intrahepatic bile duct associated with choledochal cyst. We had 42 cases with primary intrahepatic calculi for these 12 years and they had Alonso-Lej Type I cysts with dilatation of the intrahepatic bile duct and congenital biliary strictures in the-hepatic hilum. Furthermore, we had 30 cases with both the biliary malformations, but without intrahepatic stones. Consequently, coexistence of both these anomalies of the bile duct is thought to be the basis for the formation of primary intrahepatic calculi.