Agenesis of the common bile duct.

In a case of congenital absence of the common bile duct, the common hepatic duct emptied directly into the gallbladder; the latter drained by a long cystic duct into the second part of the duodenum. To my knowledge, only eight prior cases with this or very similar anomalies have been reported in the literature. This rare arrangement is common in certain lower animals and is explainable by embryologic studies. Cholecystectomy in these cases inevitably produces a complete defect in the biliary tract, which should be recognized and repaired primarily. Reconstruction using a modified Rodney Smith sutureless technique was successful, and apparently this is the first case where it has been used for this purpose.