Biliary Disease Follow-up

  • Author: Annie T Chemmanur, MD; Chief Editor: Julian Katz, MD   more...
 
Updated: Jun 24, 2011
 

Complications

  • The complications common to all of the chronic cholestatic liver diseases, such as PSC and PBC, include fatigue, pruritus, steatorrhea, fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies (A, D, E, and K), metabolic bone disease, hypercholesterolemia xanthomas, hypothyroidism, and anemia. There is a reported association of PBC with Sjögren syndrome, Raynaud phenomenon, and sicca symptoms.
  • Approximately 20% of patients with PSC develop a dominant stricture in the intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary tree. Medical therapy to treat biliary strictures has been ineffective. Nonsurgical modalities to relieve biliary obstruction, such as endoscopically- or radiologically–guided balloon dilation of strictures or placement of prosthetic stents across strictures, should be attempted initially.
  • Choledocholithiasis and cholelithiasis due to cholesterol and/or pigment stones may be present in up to one third of patients with PSC. Bacterial cholangitis can occur in patients with PSC.
  • Cholangiocarcinoma eventually develops in about 20% of patients with PSC, principally late in the course of long-standing ulcerative colitis and the cirrhotic stage of biliary disease. This complication is difficult to detect, as evidenced by the finding of cholangiocarcinoma in 10% of patients undergoing liver transplantation for PSC.[14]
  • The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma is increased in patients with PBC who have had stage IV disease for many years.[15]
  • Patients with both PSC and ulcerative colitis have an increased risk of colon cancer and progression of neoplastic transformation.
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Prognosis

  • In PSC, several factors suggest a high risk of death. These include advancing age, serum bilirubin, blood hemoglobin, presence or absence of inflammatory bowel disease, and histologic stage on liver biopsy.
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Patient Education

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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Annie T Chemmanur, MD  Attending Physician, Metrowest Medical Center and University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital, Marlborough Campus

Annie T Chemmanur, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, American Gastroenterological Association, American Medical Association, and Massachusetts Medical Society

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Jeanette G Smith, MD  Fellow, Department of Gastroenterology-Hepatology, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Jeanette G Smith, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterological Association, and American Public Health Association

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

George Y Wu, MD, PhD  Professor, Department of Medicine, Director, Hepatology Section, Herman Lopata Chair in Hepatitis Research, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

George Y Wu, MD, PhD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American Gastroenterological Association, American Medical Association, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and Association of American Physicians

Disclosure: Springer Consulting fee Consulting; Gilead Consulting fee Review panel membership; Gilead Honoraria Speaking and teaching; Bristol-Myers Squibb Honoraria Speaking and teaching; Springer Royalty Review panel membership

Specialty Editor Board

Ronnie Fass, MD  Chief of Gastroenterology, Southern Arizona VA Health Care System; Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Arizona School of Medicine

Ronnie Fass, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, American Gastroenterological Association, American Motility Society, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and Israel Medical Association

Disclosure: Takeda Pharmaceuticals Grant/research funds Conducting research; Takeda Pharmaceuticals Consulting fee Consulting; Takeda Pharmaceuticals Honoraria Speaking and teaching; Vecta Consulting fee Consulting; XenoPort Consulting fee Consulting; Eisai Honoraria Speaking and teaching; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Conducting research; AstraZeneca Grant/research funds Conducting research; Eisai Consulting fee Consulting

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

James L Achord, MD  Professor Emeritus, Department of Medicine, Division of Digestive Diseases, University of Mississippi School of Medicine

James L Achord, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterological Association, American Medical Association, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Mississippi State Medical Association, New York Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xi, and Southern Medical Association

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Alex J Mechaber, MD, FACP  Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Alex J Mechaber, MD, FACP is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, and Society of General Internal Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Julian Katz, MD  Clinical Professor of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine

Julian Katz, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterological Association, American Geriatrics Society, American Medical Association, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, American Trauma Society, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Physicians for Social Responsibility

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgments

The authors and editors of eMedicine gratefully acknowledge the contributions of previous author Paul Yakshe, MD, to the development and writing of this article.

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A normal postcholecystectomy cholangiogram.
Biliary disease. In this patient with persistent elevation of liver-associated enzymes, the contrast entering the biliary ductal system preferentially enters the cystic duct.
Biliary disease. Even when the catheter is advanced to the proximal common hepatic duct, contrast dye preferentially fills the cystic duct and gallbladder rather than allowing visualization of the intrahepatic ductal system.
Biliary disease. In this image, the common bile duct is occluded with a balloon-tipped catheter. Contrast fills the intrahepatic ductal system to reveal diffuse intrahepatic sclerosing cholangitis.
Biliary disease. Common bile duct stones are among the most common problems occurring in the biliary system. In this cholangiogram, the stones line up like peas in a pod.
Biliary disease. After a biliary sphincterotomy, a balloon-tipped catheter is used to remove the stones one by one.
Biliary disease. This clearing cholangiogram shows a common bile duct free of filling defects and good flow into the duodenum. The stones are visible as filling defects in the duodenal bulb.
Biliary disease. This patient with pancreatic cancer has developed jaundice during his treatment. The cholangiogram shows a stricture in the distal common bile duct.
Biliary disease. A patient with pancreatic cancer has developed jaundice during his treatment. To palliate the jaundice, the biliary stricture is dilated and stented with a 10F plastic stent. Note the contrast flowing down the stent.
Biliary disease. The CT scan of the abdomen shows a large tumor mass in the head of the pancreas. The brightly colored object within the mass is the biliary stent placed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).
Biliary disease. This abdominal CT scan shows mild intrahepatic biliary ductal dilation.
Biliary disease. This patient with jaundice has polycystic liver disease on abdominal CT scan.
Biliary disease. Findings on an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) exclude extrahepatic biliary obstruction but demonstrate that the intrahepatic biliary ductal system is splayed by multiple hepatic cysts.
Biliary disease. This cholangiogram shows a choledochal cyst. Fusiform dilation of the entire extrahepatic bile duct is present.
This 92-year-old woman had recurrent abdominal pain and jaundice. A right upper quadrant ultrasound showed a dilated biliary duct with no stones. She had a previous Roux-en-Y surgery that made endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) impossible. Critical aortic stenosis that increased the risk of most interventions. This percutaneous cholangiogram, performed under conscious sedation in the operating room, revealed a large stone missed by the ultrasound. It was removed successfully with percutaneous choledochoscopy and electrohydraulic lithotripsy.
Biliary disease. This cholangiogram shows a stone too large to deliver through a standard biliary sphincterotomy.
Biliary disease. Here, a mechanical lithotripter is used to grab a stone too large to deliver through a standard biliary sphincterotomy and crush it into small pieces. The smaller pieces then are removed with a balloon-tipped catheter.
Biliary disease. This patient had malignant strictures of the biliary system that were palliated with metal mesh stents. Unfortunately, the tumor has grown through the metal mesh to reobstruct the biliary system.
Biliary disease. This patient had malignant strictures of the biliary system that were palliated with metal mesh stents. Unfortunately, the tumor has grown through the metal mesh to reobstruct the biliary system. After a wire is passed through the lumen, a balloon-dilating catheter is passed into the metal mesh stents and inflated to enlarge the lumen.
Biliary disease. This patient had malignant strictures of the biliary system that were palliated with metal mesh stents. The tumor has grown through the metal mesh to reobstruct the biliary system. After a wire was passed through the lumen, a balloon-dilating catheter was passed into the metal mesh stents and inflated to enlarge the lumen. In this image, 2 plastic stents were passed into the intrahepatic ductal system to again palliate the obstruction.
 
 
 
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