Bile duct warmer in hepatic cryosurgery--a pig liver model.

Freezing of the common bile duct resulted in injury, stenosis, or perforation of the bile duct in a dog model. Biliary cutaneous fistulas and bile leaks are reported as complications of hepatic cryosurgery in man. In an ex vivo pig liver model we compared freezing close to the bile duct with and without warming the bile duct with warmed saline solution via an inserted catheter ("bile duct warmer"). The recorded temperatures at the outer wall of the bile duct were -50 degrees C after 10 min of freezing without and 5. 8 degrees C with the use of the warmer (P < 0.001, two-way ANOVA). The bile duct warmer system may be a simple and inexpensive device in reducing perioperative morbidity after hepatic cryosurgery of hepatic liver lesions close to a bile duct.