Operative choledochoscopy in biliary surgery.

Forty-six patients submitted to operative choledochoscopy during biliary surgery are presented. Forty-two had benign diseases, principally calculi (38 cases), with only four patients presenting with malignant neoplasms. Our results bear out the effectiveness of operative choledochoscopy as a complement to cholangiography and conventional exploration of the bile duct, in significantly reducing the number of retained stones found, and in aiding other surgical procedures in the biliary tract.