Detection of bile leakage from traumatic right hepatic duct laceration with technetium-99m DISIDA cholescintigraphy.

A woman was admitted to the hospital after blunt abdominal trauma. Initial ultrasound was equivocal but suggested a localized hepatic laceration. The patient was discharged but returned three weeks later with ascites and mild pain in the right upper abdominal quadrant. Hepatobiliary imaging identified a large bile leak originating from the porta hepatis but showed no evidence of parenchymal injury. No hepatic injury was found at surgery, but a laceration of the right hepatic duct was identified. Hepatobiliary imaging is the procedure of choice in diagnosing bile leaks from the extrahepatic biliary system.