Subvesical bile duct injury: an often missed cause of postcholecystectomy bile leak.

We report a case of postoperative bile leak originating from subvesical bile ducts. This anatomic variant of the bile duct is widely prevalent, often undiagnosed, and usually uncovered in the setting of iatrogenic biliary injury. Injury to these ducts during gallbladder surgery can be potentially averted by minimizing dissection into the hepatic parenchyma. Because of their small size, leaks originating from these ducts have good prognosis and almost never require surgical intervention. Preoperative knowledge of this uncommon variant may improve surgical technique aimed at avoiding biliary injury during cholecystectomy.