Iatrogenic injuries to the biliary ductal system.

One hundred patients who sustained complete transection or ligation of the common bile duct during cholecystectomy were selected from a much larger number of patients admitted to The New York Hospital for surgical correction from 1932 to 1976 for review. The methods of restoration of bile flow from the liver to the intestine were described with an indication of the success and failure that followed. The results were varied and unpredictable. Perhaps the propensity of the transected or ischemic duct wall to form scar tissue with sufficient reduction of the lumen to cause partial to complete obstruction is the reason for some of the failure.