Foreign bodies of the biliary tract. Endoscopic management.

In the period 1978-1984, 23 patients underwent endoscopic intervention for foreign bodies of the biliary tract. The patients are subdivided into three groups: the first group consists of 11 cases in which the foreign bodies were suture threads, either simple or as a nidus for gallstones; the second group consists of six patients with a sump syndrome of the biliary tract; the third group includes six patients who retained drainage tubes or stents after a biliary tract operation. In our series, endoscopic extraction was performed as a first-choice procedure. The high success rate may favor endoscopy as a low-morbidity, low-mortality approach and as an alternative to a relaparotomy.