Common bile duct distensibility after cholecystectomy.

To assess the possibility of common bile duct distensibility after cholecystectomy, we made a retrospective study of patients who had ultrasonography and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The study comprised 52 patients without extrahepatic biliary obstruction; 19 had had cholecystectomy, 18 of whom complained of biliary colic similar to that they had had originally. The other 33 patients had intact, well visualized gallbladders; 15 of these patients had pain in the right upper quadrant or epigastrium, but none had chronic pancreatitis. The average diameter of the common bile duct at its widest point by ultrasonography was 4.8 mm (range, 4.0 to 9.0 mm) in the 33 patients with intact gallbladders, and 5.7 mm (range, 4.0 to 8.0 mm) in the 19 patients who had had cholecystectomy. The diameter by ERCP was 4.4 mm (range, 2.9 to 6.3 mm) in the patients with intact gallbladders, and 11.17 mm (range, 6.9 to 14.7 mm) in the patients who had had cholecystectomy. In each patient who had had cholecystectomy the diameter as measured by ERCP was larger than it appeared by ultrasonography. The results suggest that the common bile duct is distensible, and that this distensibility may be related to the postcholecystectomy syndrome.