Rotational cine cholangiography: Evaluation for use in diagnosing bile duct carcinoma

OBJECTIVE. We evaluated the usefulness of rotational cine cholangiography i n the preoperative diagnosis of bile duct carcinoma. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Rotational cine cholangiography was performed in both the transverse and cephalad anterior oblique planes in 60 patients with ob structive jaundice. Using strict diagnostic criteria, the capability of thi s technique to detect the confluence of the right hepatic duct and the left hepatic duct, the right anterior segmental duct and the right posterior se gmental duct, and the left medial segmental duct was investigated. The angl e at which the confluence was revealed was also investigated. In 26 patient s with resected bile duct carcinomas, the preoperative diagnosis of cancer spread obtained using this procedure was compared with the histopathologic findings. RESULTS. Overall detectabilities of the consequences of the right hepatic d ucts and left hepatic ducts, the right anterior segmental ducts and right p osterior segmental ducts, and the left medial segmental ducts were 97.6%, 8 7.0%, and 93.1%, respectively. The angles of the confluences of the right h epatic ducts sand left hepatic ducts and of the right anterior segmental du cts and right posterior segmental ducts were widely distributed; on the oth er hand, those of the left medial segmental ducts were distributed mainly f rom 0 degrees to 20 degrees. The accuracies of diagnosis of cancer invasion were 91.7% in the common hepatic ducts, 100% in the right hepatic ducts, 9 1.7% in the left hepatic ducts, 100% in the right anterior segmental ducts, 83.3% in the right posterior segmental ducts, and 100% in the left medial segmental ducts. CONCLUSION. Rotational cine cholangiography is reliable not only in detecti ng the confluence of the bile ducts but also in diagnosing the longitudinal extent of cancer spread along the bile duct wall.