Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage: experience with 311 procedures.

Percutaneous biliary drainage was performed in 296 patients on 311 occasions using a fine-needle puncture technique. In 59%, the procedure served as postoperative decompression, and in 35% for palliation of obstruction, particularly in malignant disease. Postoperative drainage for the management of postoperative complication accounted for 2.5%. In more than 80% of the patients treated, the underlying disease was malignant obstructive jaundice. In 257 retrospectively evaluated patients the following complications were observed: cholangitis (6.6%), sepsis (3.1%), bile leakage (1.6%) with two deaths (0.7%), and subcapsular hematoma and hematoma in the hepatoduodenal ligament (1.2%). Catheter dislocations accounted for 8.5% and were eliminated by the use of self-retaining catheters. In 51 prospectively studied patients pain was encountered in 55% and cholangitis in 11.8%. The procedure is most valuable for complicated biliary obstruction, palliative drainage, and endobiliary manipulations.