Abstract

Background—Endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) is widely used for the removal of stones from the bile duct, but stones recur in about one fifth of patients.

Aims—To investigate hepatic clearance by quantitative cholescintigraphy (QC) in patients after EST and to discern the relationship between biliary emptying and stone recurrence.

Methods—One hundred and forty nine patients who had EST and clearance of the bile duct for choledocholithiasis were selected. All patients were confirmed to have complete EST by sphincter of Oddi manometry and underwent QC soon after normalisation of liver function. Regular clinical follow up was performed for each patient.

Results—During a mean 36 month follow up, 22 (14.8%) patients developed recurrent stones in the bile duct. Irrespective of the status of the gall bladder, patients with recurrent stones had a slower hepatic clearance of radioisotope during QC compared with patients without stone recurrence, but only the differences in cholecystectomised patients had statistical significance. After carrying out multivariate analysis, one parameter of QC, percentage clearance of maximal count at 45 minutes, was found to be the only significant factor for stone recurrence. All recurrent stones in the common bile duct were successfully removed at endoscopy.

Conclusion—Slower hepatic clearance as shown by QC is an important factor responsible for stone recurrence after sphincter ablation.