[The significance of endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) in biliary stasis and the postcholecystectomy syndrome (author's transl)].

In a group of 103 patients with biliary tract disease only 27% had findings of ERC which were concordant with the operative observations. False-negative results were present in 20%, while in 55% conventional cholangiography did not provide enough opacification for exact diagnosis. The size of the common bile-duct lumen correlated with the degree of biliary stasis. It can, therefore, be used as a good diagnostic indicator. The normal lumen diameter as measured by ERC was 6.29 +/- 1.29 mm in the suprapancreatic part of the common bile-duct. All cholecystectomised patients had a dilated lumen, the borderline value for biliary stasis being at 13-14 mm.