Postoperative biliocutaneous fistula: successful treatment by insertion of an endoprosthesis.

An elderly patient with a postoperative biliocutaneous fistula, the persistence of which was due to an unrecognized fibro-malignant stricture of the distal common bile duct, was treated by the insertion of an endoscopic biliary endoprosthesis. Immediately after the procedure, bile discharge through the fistula ceased completely, and the fistula closed in three days. Endoscopic treatment methods are worth trying before surgical revision of a biliocutaneous fistula is performed.