Choledochoduodenostomy, transduodenal sphincteroplasty and sphincterotomy for calculi of the common bile duct.

The clinical features, indications and operative results in a consecutive series of 246 patients who underwent choledochoduodenostomy (CDD) and transduodenal sphincterotomy or sphincteroplasty (TDS) over a period of ten years (1972 to 1981) were reviewed. The over-all mortality for CDD was ten of 190 patients (5.3 per cent) and three of 56 patients for TDS (5.4 per cent). The over-all major morbidity rate for these procedures was 11.6 per cent for CDD and 21.4 per cent for TDS. This was not a statistically significant difference, but there were more elderly patients (more than 65 years old) in the CDD group (60.5 per cent) than in the TDS group (21.4 per cent) (p less than 0.001). The major morbidity rate associated with elective operations was 10.7 per cent for CDD and 20.0 per cent for TDS which is significant (p less than 0.05). Long term follow-up study (one to 12 years and mean of four and one-half years) revealed six patients in the CDD group with sump syndrome or cholangitis, or both, (3.3 per cent) and three patients in the TDS group had cholangitis develop (5.7 per cent). Over-all, the results compared favorably with the published results of endoscopic sphincterotomy. We conclude that CDD is the operation of choice when a permanent biliary drainage procedure is indicated and TDS should be reserved for instances of ampullary gallstone impaction.