Koito K, Namieno T, Nagakawa T, Morita K
Department of Radiology, Sapporo Medical University, Japan.
J Ultrasound Med. 1996 Mar;15(3):203-6. doi: 10.7863/jum.1996.15.3.203.
We performed percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage using color Doppler ultrasonography to decrease the complications of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage. Thirty patients underwent this procedure. We performed this method after identifying the second and third branches of the intrahepatic bile ducts, including the portal and the hepatic veins. The success rate of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage using color Doppler ultrasonography was 100% with one puncture in 29 patients and with two punctures in only one patient. We never encountered severe complications, such as bleeding, infection, hemobilia, or pseudoaneurysm formation in the hepatic artery. This method was safer and easier than the usual method using B-mode ultrasonography only.
