Objective: To determine the causes of choledochal dilatation in patients with obstructive jaundice.
Methods: One hundred and sixty-four patients with obstructive jaundice were investigated by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP), and patients with choledochal dilatation (group I, n=110) were compared with those without choledochal dilatation (group II, n=54).
Results: The causes of common bile duct dilatation were choledocholith, juxtapapillary duodenal diverticula and congenital dilatation of the common bile duct. The distal common bile duct and its surroundings were abnormal in 104 (94.55%) of the 110 patients and in 13 (24.08%) of the 54 patients (P<0.01). Juxtapapillary duodenal diverticulum accounted for 24.55% in group I, and only in 9.26% in group II (P<0.05). Post-cholecystectomy patients were 13.64% in group I, and only 5.56% in group II.
Conclusions: The abnormalities of the distal common bile duct and its surroundings can usually be detected as underlying causes of common bile duct dilatation. ERCP is necessary before cholecystectomy, since it is considered the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of distal common bile duct abnormalities.