Intrahepatic Calculi

Abstract

Lithiasis in the larger intrahepatic bile ducts can lead to partial or complete obstruction of biliary flow. In the University Hospital in Cali, Colombia, one third of the patients with persistent common duct stones were found to have intrahepatic calculi. Because this cause of persistent stones has seldom been emphasized,^8,19,25 study of this condition in patients at Universidad del Valle was undertaken in an effort to elucidate the problem. The present study includes patients in whom most of the stones were located above the junction of the right and left hepatic ducts. Incidence. —The incidence of intrahepatic calculi is difficult to estimate.^{3,6,9,13,18,29} Several careful analyses of extensive series of autopsies and of patients operated on for cholelithiasis contain no reference to incidence.^1,2,11,21 Best,⁵ in a review of pertinent publications up to 1944, found an incidence of 7.6% among 456 collected cases of cholelithiasis studied at autopsy.