Common Bile Duct Dilatation Meaning

Biliary dilatation when identified may be separated into obstructive or nonobstructive causes.

Common bile duct dilatation meaning. No laboratory or demographic parameters were useful for discrimination. 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. Common bile duct is part of the plumbing that drains the secretion of the liver bile into small bowel duodenum. A biliary obstruction is a blockage of the bile ducts.

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. This is a specific finding that is looked for when a patient gets an ultrasound for a suspected liver or gallbladder disease. The bile ducts carry bile from the liver and gallbladder through the pancreas to the duodenum which is a part of the small intestine. Most commonly the obstruction is caused by a gallstone but cysts or tumors are also possible.

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. 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.

Many theories have been proposed to explain the origin of bile duct dilatation and can be divided into two groups. Primary sclerosing cholangitis results in strictures in the bile ducts and is associated with ulcerative colitis and crohn s disease. A dilated bile duct or one that is enlarged typically occurs when there is an obstruction blocking the flow of bile. Recurrent pyogenic cholangitis is common in asian countries and is associated with biliary parasites.

Color doppler can be useful to ensure that dilated structures in the liver are actually bile ducts and not an intrahepatic vascular malformation. Choledochal cyst is a dilatation of the bile ducts outside the liver that is present at birth.