Oblique Bile Duct Predisposes to the Recurrence of Bile Duct Stones

Background and Study AimsBile stones represent a highly prevalent condition and abnormalities of the biliary tree predispose to stone recurrence due to development of biliary stasis. In our study, we assessed the importance of an altered bile duct course for stone formation. Patients and Methods1,307 patients with choledocholithiasis in the absence of any associated hepatobiliary disease who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) between 2002 and 2009 were analysed. The angle enclosed between the horizontal portion of the common bile duct (CBD) and the horizontal plane was measured (angle α). Oblique common bile duct (OCBD) was defined as a CBD with angle α Results103 patients (7.9%) were found to harbour OCBD and these were compared to 104 randomly selected control subjects. Compared to controls, OCBD patients were (i) significantly older (72±13 vs. 67±13, p ConclusionOCBD defines a novel variant of the biliary tree, which is associated with chronic cholestasis, hampers an efficient stone removal and predisposes to recurrence of bile duct stones.