Intraoperative manometry--a useful tool in biliary surgery?

Intraoperative manometry was performed in 771 patients undergoing cholecystectomy with (n = 158) and without (n = 613) interventions on the common bile duct and papilla. The method measures the resting pressure (RP) and pressure increase (PI) after injection of 1 ml NaCl/s as well as the time (TR) used for return to the initial pressure, using a Statham transducer. All values are recorded and statistically processed by the two-tailed t test. All three manometric parameters (RP, PI and TR) were statistically different (p less than or equal to 0.0001) between patients with and without alterations of the bile duct and papilla respectively. There was also a clear difference (p = 0.0001) of the TR (which is an indirect measure of the bile flow) between patients with stenosis of papilla (n = 55) and those who showed calculi in the bile duct (n = 103). In a further study we could demonstrate that histopathological changes of the papilla (specimen was taken during transduodenal papilloplasty because of isolated papilla stenosis) led to a prolonged TR, whereas TR in patients with negative histology was decreased. The sensitivity and specifity of this manometric method was very high, 92.4 and 98.6% respectively. This method of manometry enables to obtain precise data about pressure and flow in the bile duct uninfluenced by subjective reading errors in a simple and reproducible way. In our opinion it should complete other intraoperative diagnostic methods during cholecystectomy, particularly as manometry was the only method which led to the correct final diagnosis in 2% of 771 patients.