Biliary Pancreatitis. Liver Function Tests and Common Biliopancreatic Channel Kinetics--Biliopancreatic Reflux.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of biliopancreatic reflux (BPR) in patients with biliary pancreatitis (BP) undergoing elective cholecystectomy with intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) in comparison with a control group of symptomatic cholelithiasis (CG). PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective review of 107 consecutive BP cases. BPR was determined by IOC and liver function tests (LFT) were recorded at admission (A), 48hours, and preoperative examination (P). LFT analysis between A and P were analysed between groups with respect to BPR, time interval to cholecystectomy within the same group and by determination of observed value/maximum normal value ratio (OV/MNV). RESULTS BPR incidence was 38.3% in BP in comparison with 5% in CG (p=0.0001) it was independent from interval time to cholecystectomy, in contrast with Odditis, suggesting an anatomical condition for CCBP and a functional one for Odditis. LFT analysis showed no differences in relation to BPR incidence. LFT excluding AP and GGT returned to normal values with significant differences in OV/MNV when BPR was present which points to an increased cholestasis in BPR group. US dilatation of CBD was noted in 10.3% and was associated to CCBP. CONCLUSIONS BPR in BP increases cholestasis and contributes to confusion in the estimation of common bile duct stones increasing ERCP-EE rates. US and biochemical markers of CBDS show a low specificity due to BPR-CCBP which suggests that MRI-cholangiography is a mandatory exploration before ERCP-EE examination.