Benign biliary strictures associated with chronic pancreatitis and gallstones.

A series of twenty-seven patients with benign non-traumatic biliary strictures is presented. Fifteen strictures were associated with chronic pancreatitis, and were typically long, tapered strictures of the intrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct. Twelve were associated with choledocholithiasis; these were usually short-segment and occurred both above and below stones in the duct. These strictures are important surgically, since they may produce pain, cholestasis and cholangitis, stone formation, and biliary cirrhosis. They may be difficult to distinguish from bile duct or pancreatic carcinomas. In the patients with chronic pancreatitis, treatment by biliary bypass was effective in the presence of cholestasis, but was ineffective for chronic pain. Treatment by biliary bypass or sphincteroplasty was highly effective in those patients with choledocholithiasis.