Microcirculation lesion is a common symptom of chronic liver diseases in the form of vasculature deformation and circulation alteration. In acute to chronic liver diseases such as biliary atresia, microcirculation lesion can have an early onset. Detection of microcirculation lesion is meaningful for studying the progression of liver disease. We have combined wide-field fluorescence microscopy a...

Enhanced computed tomography (CT) is widely used for evaluating acute biliary pain in the emergency department (ED). However, concern about radiation exposure from CT has also increased. We investigated the usefulness of pre-contrast CT for differential diagnosis in middle-aged subjects with suspected biliary pain.A total of 183 subjects, who visited the ED for suspected biliary pain from Janua...

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP) is a complex diagnostic and therapeutic approach that is used to identify and treat various hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases [1]. About one third of the patients with pancreatico-biliary malignancy are amenable to surgical resection after detailed evaluation with trans-abdominal ultrasound, computerized tomographic scan, magnetic reso...

BACKGROUND Biliary stenting is a well-established method to treat patients with malignant and benign biliary diseases. However, occlusion of plastic biliary stents is considered as a drawback and bacterial colonization seems to be the key factor in this process. METHODS During a 3-year period, 51 plastic biliary stents were extracted from 42 patients. Twenty three stents were inserted for tre...

The use of cholescintigraphy to diagnose acute cholecystitis, biliary obstruction, and biliary leakage dates back to the late 1970s. Today, despite the many advances in imaging instrumentation, radiopharmaceuticals, and methodology over these years, cholescintigraphy still plays an important role in confirming or excluding these diagnoses in acutely ill patients. Acute calculous and acalculous ...

Injury to the biliary epithelium triggers inflammation and fibrosis, which can result in severe liver diseases and may progress to malignancy. Development of a type 1 immune response has been linked to biliary injury pathogenesis; however, a subset of patients with biliary atresia, the most common childhood cholangiopathy, exhibit increased levels of Th2-promoting cytokines. The relationship am...

Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis have an abnormally high incidence of urinary tract infection (35%). Susceptibility to urinary infection and other infectious diseases has been linked with certain blood group antigens and secretor status. We have therefore studied these characteristics in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. We were unable to show any abnormal distribution in blood gr...

Aetiological factors were sought prospectively in 55 babies with extrahepatic biliary atresia, in 105 with neonatal hepatitis, and in 11 with intrahepatic biliary atresia, seen as a result of nearly complete ascertainment of these conditions in the State of Victoria between 1963 and 1974. In neonatal hepatitis infective causes were shown in 22 babies, galactosaemia in 6 and alpha1-antitrypsin d...

fasciola hepatica (f. hepatica) as a foodborne trematode can occasionally cause hepatobiliary diseases. we report a 67-year-old woman who was referred to our center because of the diagnosis of cholangitis. she was a resident of mountainous area with the history of unsafe water and contaminated vegetables. endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ercp) was performed as a diagnostic and th...