Biliary Excretion of Antibiotics

Abstract

The excretion of antibiotics in bile has been studied during the past 25 years as a basis for suggesting the usefulness of antibiotics in the treatment of biliary-tract infection. Examination of this premise evokes reflections on the pathogenesis of cholecystitis and cholangitis, on the microbiology of the biliary system and on the applicability of antibiotic excretion studies in the normal biliary tract to those in the infected abnormal state.The pathogenesis of cholecystitis is not completely understood. Convincing evidence is lacking to implicate bacteria in bile or in the gallbladder wall as responsible for the initiation of cholecystitis or as . . .