THE PERCUTANEOUS TRANSHEPATIC CHOLANGIOSC OPY PTCS-EVALUATION OF CLINICAL PRACTICABILITY

In 44 patients with biliary obstructions, percutaneous transhepatic ch olangioscopy (PTCS) was performed during percutaneous transhepatic bil iary drainage procedures (PTCD). In all patients the obstruction could be decompressed via the PTCD sufficiently. 30 of these cases who had PTCS showed suspect hepatic and pancreatic malignancies. In contrast t o the brush cytology (14% false negative) the biopsies revealed insuff icient histology in 33%. However, in 3 cases a more extended tumor sit e was seen than at the initial exploration, shown by ERCP.