Common Bile Duct Dilatation Meaning

The clinical significance of common bile duct dilatation in patients without biliary symptoms or causative lesions on ultrasonography we detected a significant number of causative biliary tract lesions in asymptomatic adults with dilatation of the cbd on routine abdominal us.

Common bile duct dilatation meaning.

Common bile duct is part of the plumbing that drains the secretion of the liver bile into small bowel duodenum. No laboratory or demographic parameters were useful for discrimination. A biliary obstruction is a blockage of the bile ducts. Biliary dilatation when identified may be separated into obstructive or nonobstructive causes.

It is later joined by the pancreatic duct to form the ampulla of vater. When the bile cannot pass through a particular duct it builds up and the structure becomes distended. Bile duct abnormalities may be identified during evaluation of patient symptoms or laboratory abnormalities or incidentally during imaging for another problem. The common bile duct sometimes abbreviated cbd is a duct in the gastrointestinal tract of organisms that have a gallbladder.

The size of the common bile duct if dilated may suggest a blockage downstream. Many theories have been proposed to explain the origin of bile duct dilatation and can be divided into two groups. Most commonly the obstruction is caused by a gallstone but cysts or tumors are also possible. 1 that due to an obstructive factor localized at the junction of the choledochus with the duodenum as an abnormal angularity or congenital stenosis of the terminal common bile duct and 2 that due to a weakness originating in the common bile duct proper.

Choledochal cyst is a dilatation of the bile ducts outside the liver that is present at birth. A dilated bile duct or one that is enlarged typically occurs when there is an obstruction blocking the flow of bile. This is a specific finding that is looked for when a patient gets an ultrasound for a suspected liver or gallbladder disease. Color doppler can be useful to ensure that dilated structures in the liver are actually bile ducts and not an intrahepatic vascular malformation.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis results in strictures in the bile ducts and is associated with ulcerative colitis and crohn s disease. Focal dilatation may be a result of downstream stricture or damage to the elasticity of that segment of bile duct possibly from prior stone passage.