Evaluation of arrangement pattern of the pancreatic duct and the common bile duct in the pancreaticobiliary maljunction

Abstract

We evaluated the form of the arrangement between the pancreatic duct and the common bile duct in the cases with pancreaticobiliary maljunction. On the cholangiograms obtained by endoscopic retrograde cholangiography and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography, the forms of the common bile duct at the pancreatico-biliary junction were classified into three types: (a) the terminal portion of the common bile duct at the pancreatico-biliary junction has a narrow segment, (b) the terminal portion of the common bile duct has relative stenosis at the junction and (c) the terminal portion of the common bile duct has no stenosis at the junction. This study revealed that the occurrence of gallbladder cancer or bile duct cancer was significantly lower in patients with the type (a) arrangement. We also evaluated the relation between biliary malignancies and the form of common channel. The occurrence of biliary malignancies was significantly higher in patients with a dilated common channel.