Iatrogenic hemobilia: how to approach it.

Hemobilia after surgical or non-surgical interventions on the liver, biliary tree and pancreas is a serious postoperative complication. Two different therapeutic approaches i.e. superselective hepatic artery embolization and surgical management were retrospectively evaluated in a group of 19 patients. Superselective embolization showed a lower mortality and morbidity than did surgery. Superselective embolization resulted in a higher success rate in terms of control of bleeding and identification of the origin of the bleed.