Prediction of operative cholangiography in patients undergoing elective cholecystectomy with routine liver function chemistries.

A retrospective reviews of 195 consecutive patients who underwent elective cholecystectomy and operative cystic duct cholangiography (OCDC) were reviewed to establish criteria to correlate the preoperative laboratory data of liver chemistry tests and the actual biliary tract disease found in each patients. Patients who had a history of jaundice or other clinical indication for common bile duct exploration were excluded from this study. The patients were divided into four groups based on the results of the OCDC: I negative, II false positive, III false negative, and IV positive for choledocholithiasis. The results of the preoperative liver chemistry studies of the patients in each of the four groups were analyzed by the chi 2 method. The four liver chemistry tests were lactate dehydrogenase, SGOT, bilirubin, and alkaline phosphatase. When results of all preoperative liver chemistry tests were normal, there was no incidence of choledocholithiasis. As the number of chemistry test result elevations increased from one to four, the incidence of choledocholithiasis increased from 17% to 50% (p less than 0.001). Preoperative liver chemistry tests in selected patients undergoing elective cholecystectomy may provide a valuable indicator to the surgeon as to whether an OCDC should be performed at the time of surgery.