Abstract

Six patients with stones retained in the common bile duct after cholecystectomy and common duct exploration were treated by intraductal infusion of a sodium cholate solution. In the five patients whose stones were between the T-tube and the duodenum the treatment was successful within a few days. A stone became transiently impacted in the ampullary region soon after beginning therapy in three patients and produced mild pancreatitis in two. The only failure was in a patient whose stone was between the T-tube and the liver.