Long-term biliary function after reconstruction of major bile duct injuries with hepaticoduodenostomy or hepaticojejunostomy.

HYPOTHESIS: Normal biliary function can be achieved after reconstruction for major bile duct injuries using either hepaticoduodenostomy (HD) or Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy (HJ).

DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of consecutive patients requiring biliary enteric reconstructions from February 1, 1993, through January 1, 2002, for bile duct injuries.

SETTING: Academic multispecialty referral clinic.

PATIENTS: Twenty-seven consecutive patients were evaluated who underwent biliary enteric reconstruction for bile duct injury caused during cholecystectomy. Patients were reconstructed either by HD (18 patients) or HJ (9 patients).

INTERVENTIONS: Patients' medical records were reviewed and long-term evaluations were obtained via telephone questionnaire by 2 separate observers (R.J.M. and F.T.L.). Biliary function was evaluated in all using symptoms and liver function test results. Cholangiography was obtained, if indicated clinically. These were reviewed for stricture or dilatation. Any biliary interventions were recorded.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Comparison of long-term biliary function after HD vs HJ reconstructions.

RESULTS: All patients were contacted after a median postoperative time of 54 months. Excellent or good results were observed for biliary function in 25 (92%) of the 27 patients. These results were obtained regardless of the type of reconstruction-HD (18 patients) or HJ (9 patients).

CONCLUSIONS: We found biliary function to be normal at more than 4 years after biliary-enteric reconstruction for bile duct injury. When surgically feasible, we prefer HD to HJ.